Where Silicon Valley residents can get free Thanksgiving meals

Numerous organizations are making sure people looking for a hot meal this Thanksgiving don’t go hungry.

CityTeam is preparing 50 turkeys, 300 pounds of mashed potatoes and 200 pounds of vegetables for Santa Clara County residents facing food insecurity, along with other nonprofits and faith groups that have banded together to distribute free food with all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings — everything from stuffing to cranberry sauce.

The season of giving arrives when food stamp levels are at their highest in a decade, largely due to the high cost of food and available resources that ended after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The majority of free food on Turkey Day comes from one place: Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. The nonprofit serves as the food bank for Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and distributes dried goods and fresh produce to 400 nonprofits in the region. The nonprofit feeds 500,000 people per month.

Second Harvest of Silicon Valley CEO Leslie Bacho said the organization is not immune to the hard times and is facing budget constraints after losing pandemic funding. The nonprofit, which normally buys and receives donations of turkey, is solely relying on donations and moving more to chicken.

But Bacho said there’s still plenty of food to go around.

“When you picture these distributions, a lot of people picture folks coming in (and) feeling just really downtrodden,” she told San José Spotlight. “And in fact, what you’ll see at these distributions is just so much gratitude.”

Leading up to the holiday, residents can collect Thanksgiving boxes from Sacred Heart Community Service, one of the largest distribution centers located at 1381 S. First St. in San Jose. The nonprofit will be passing out boxes filled with goods on Nov. 25-27. Sacred Heart will also pass out boxes that don’t require cooking for homeless residents.

Demone Carter, Sacred Heart director of community engagement, said he expects about 3,000 people to come through the doors over those three days. He said while it’s nice nonprofits step up to do this work, they shouldn’t have to in such a wealthy region.

“It’s actually criminal that people have to come to get these resources,” he told San José Spotlight. “While we’re here to address the present need, we never take our focus away from that. This is actually an injustice that this even has to exist.”

On Thanksgiving day, organizations such as CityTeam and Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen will host community meals where residents can get hot plates loaded with festive treats.

CityTeam is expecting to hand out 750 meals at 580 Charles St. in San Jose, and will also provide hygiene kits to homeless residents.

The meal is partially run by people in CityTeam’s restorative residential program, a yearlong addiction recovery program, and Food Service Manager Reynolds Stewart. Stewart, who has been preparing the meal for more than 13 years, said it’s a rewarding day.

“I feel really good, but I also feel (great) from teaching the men that are in this program how to give back to someone else other than your own self and the addiction that you went through,” he told San José Spotlight.

Loaves & Fishes will provide transportation to its festivities, located on 15333 Woodard Road at St. Francis Cabrini Parish, for the first time this year. After eating, residents will be dropped off from the locations were they were picked up. Pick-up and drop-off locations in San Jose include Christ the King Catholic Church at 5284 Monterey Road; St. John Vianney Parish at 4600 Hyland Ave.; The Jerry Larson Food Basket at 1043 Garland Ave.; the Loaves & Fishes office at 1500 Berger Drive; and Lighthouse Food Rescue & Distribution at 309 N. 17th St.

Stephenie Medina, Loaves & Fishes director of development, said she’s looking forward to the festivities.

“It’s a really important time of year to have a warm meal and a community environment where people can come and enjoy and be served with dignity, and that’s really what we are excited to be doing this year on Thanksgiving,” she told San José Spotlight.

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.