Charity helps families eat for holiday, indicates hope to do more
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Volunteers give away turkeys Wednesday as part of Epic-Cure’s food drive in Palatka. -
Elder Jarom Kuaea from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Palatka puts a turkey into a vehicle Wednesday during an Epic-Cure food giveaway in Palatka alongside fellow volunteer Jennie Farnham. -
Waylon McGahey hoists a turkey into his arms Wednesday as he prepares to give it away for Thanksgiving. -
Turkeys are piled high on Wednesday as volunteers give them away as part of the Epic-Cure drive-thru food pickup in Palatka. -
Volunteers give away turkeys Wednesday as part of Epic-Cure’s food drive in Palatka. -
Positively Putnam FL
PALATKA – On a chilly Wednesday afternoon, volunteers direct a line of cars backed up down North U.S. 17 to piles of turkeys and shopping carts full of fresh vegetables.
Epic-Cure of Palatka hosted its usual Friday food giveaway early this week to make sure the local community had Thanksgiving meals. And volunteers said they gave out more than 600 turkeys.
“We’re busy all the time but the holidays definitely bring out more need,” Epic-Cure Founder Sunni Mulford said.
The organization expected to feed 900 families Wednesday during its three-hour drive-thru period.
Giveaways are usually on Friday but Epic-Cure changed the date because of the holiday. Mulford said the regular schedule resumes next week.
Plus, the Thanksgiving holiday could lead to leftover turkeys that grocery stores could not sell, and Mulford said Epic-Cure could receive those to give away during the next food drives.
Volunteer Ed Killebrew said Publix donated many of the turkeys but people even bought turkeys at the grocery store to donate to Epic-Cure this year.
“They would home them at the store and I could pick them up by the pallet,” he said. “It made it very easy for the people just to donate a turkey. They didn’t have to bring it to us.”
Killebrew said some people told him they wanted to donate because Epic-Cure helped feed their family when they were food insecure at one point.
The organization hopes to expand the number of people they serve by converting the warehouse, where they serve food, into a grocery-style store.
But, because the nonprofit only rents the warehouse, there is always a chance it could be bought and Epic-Cure would have to move its operations.
Buying the property costs $800,000. Killebrew said someone plans to donate half the funds to the organization and Epic-Cure is asking the Putnam County Board of Commissioners for the additional money from federal funding the county received earlier this year.
If they owned the facility, Killebrew said people who are food insecure could shop inside the warehouse for groceries for their family using a shop cart rather than a drive-thru style.
Killebrew said people could make appointments to shop, and it could make people feel more dignified than going through a drive-thru.
Epic-Cure also hopes to one day offer medical services on the property and use the facility’s kitchens to teach children and veterans how to cook for themselves.
But, on Wednesday, volunteers were focusing on feeding families through this holiday season.
“I think inflation more than anything is driving people to us,” Mulford said. “But … holiday times are always busy.”
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