The East Peterborough Lions Club delivered 75 turkeys and hams this holiday to families who might otherwise have gone without a traditional Christmas dinner.
Individuals, businesses, and service clubs donated most of the turkeys and hams to this year’s Great Turkey Exchange, a program first organized in 2009 by Lois Tuffin. At Tuffin’s request, the East Peterborough Lions Club took over the program in 2022.
This year, the Lions Club distributed 65 turkeys and 10 hams to local families — which was a decrease in demand from 2022, although this year some families asked to be removed from the list.
“One thing that we found incredible this year was, for the first time since we began working with this program, we had people calling and letting us know they received turkeys from another source and asked us to remove them from the list,” said Frank Hewitt, service chair for the East Peterborough Lions Club, in a media release. “That allowed us to be able to supply another family with a turkey or ham for their meal.”
The Lions Club thanked community members who made donations as well as Kawartha Food Share, Morello’s Your Independent Grocer, Giant Tiger, Sobey’s, No Frills, Metro, Lion Jacob Sharman, and the Young Adults of Peterborough Lions Club Branch.
“Their donations were a large part of making the program successful, ensuring families who could not afford a turkey or ham would not go without,” the Lions Club stated, adding that one couple made a last-minute turkey donation on Christmas Eve, “making someone’s holiday meal truly special.”
