November 25, 2005

Season of giving

Almaden Valley Rotary Club donates turkeys
to needy families for Thanksgiving

More than 70 people receive turkeys and food items

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

A long narrow table with more than 70 turkeys and other free food items greeted low-income residents of the Hoffman/Via Monte neighborhood Monday afternoon at Almaden Hills United Methodist Church.

Jeff Rosen, Ken Tavernier and Paul Venezio helped distribute 70 turkeys and other food items to families of the Hoffman/Via Monte neighborhood Monday afternoon. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

The much-welcomed donation was courtesy of the Almaden Valley Rotary Club, which purchased the food to provide a Thanksgiving dinner to those who are less fortunate.

Event chairman Paul Venezio, a Rotarian for 15 years, was busy making sure the mostly Hispanic families who came to the church’s Fellowship Hall received their goodies.

The club has been coordinating the service project for the past seven years and the families were selected through the city’s Head Start program and the area’s neighborhood associations, Venezio said.

One by one, residents of the neighborhood began to trickle into the church, each receiving a bag with a frozen turkey and another bag with instant mashed potatoes, rice, dinner rolls, gravy, yams and the other traditional components of a Thanksgiving dinner.

“Service above self is our motto,” Venezio said. “The idea is to go out and help somebody who is in need. This is what the Rotary Club does. We’re always looking for things to do.”

About 20 members of the Pioneer High School Interact Club helped Rotarians bag the turkeys and the food items. The club’s focus is community service and the Almaden Valley Rotary Club sponsors it.

This year, the club is working closely with the Rotarians and the Hoffman/Via Monte Neighborhood Action Committee, said Wendy Savinar, club advisor and teacher at Pioneer.

“Quite a few of the teenagers that live in the Hoffman/Via Monte go to our school so it’s a nice way of giving back to the community,” Savinar said. “It also brings together students who typically may not hang out with each other.”

Pioneer High School Interact Club member Mae Limskun, 16, a junior, was excited to be volunteering to provide a Thanksgiving meal to the poor.

“This shows that we care about our community,” Limskun said. “This gives hope to our neighbors. Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, and these people will actually have an opportunity to sit down and be thankful for our community. This brings us together.”

Ken Tavernier, Interact Club coordinator, regretted that so many residents of the Hoffman/Via Monte neighborhood struggle financially and are in desperate need of community assistance.

“It’s amazing to see we live in such an affluent area in Almaden but right down the street people need help,” Tavernier said.

The Almaden Valley Rotary Club meets at 12:15 p.m. Fridays at the Three Flames restaurant. It has about 40 members. Money to pay for the turkeys and the food items came from member donations.