Community: The Foodbank needs your help

We are now two days from Thanksgiving, and it seems fairly evident that many families won’t have a lot for which to be thankful. And the help the neediest of families need putting a Thanksgiving “feast” on the table Thursday needs some help of its own.

The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County is trying to get donated turkeys to needy families, but the recession has sliced into the giving spirit. As of the end of last week, the agency had distributed just less than 2,000 frozen turkeys — which is only about a third of the number of birds distributed during more solvent times.

The Foodbank needs donations, and quickly. Your final opportunity to help out — at least with regard to Thanksgiving — occurs today, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., a time period during which wrapped, frozen turkeys can be dropped off at either the Foodbank warehouse in Santa Maria, 490 W. Foster Road, or at 4554 Hollister Ave. in Goleta.

The Foodbank’s volunteers are really scrambling. Compensating for the shortage of frozen turkeys, the staff is distributing all the other Thanksgiving feast trimmings, and substituting chicken whenever possible.

The need for food donations does not end with Thanksgiving. Christmas-season food donations are needed, and while we’re at it, the Foodbank’s needs are there 365 days a year — it doesn’t have to be a special holiday occasion.

The Foodbank, through a couple of hundred social-service agencies, donates tons of food to tens of thousands of needy county residents each year. We can’t allow a little bump in the road like the Great Recession to curtail a splendid record of giving, now can we.