W&L’s Campus Kitchen Hosts Annual Turkeypalooza This year’s events will kick off on Nov. 8. The community is encouraged to volunteer and donate to support Campus Kitchen’s programming.
Every November the Campus Kitchen at W&L serves up holiday meals, turkey deliveries and other fun events!The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee University (CKWL) presents its annual Turkeypalooza: A Family Table Gathering Event from Nov. 8–14.
Campus Kitchen runs various holiday-themed events during November. This year, the events kick off with the sixth annual fall food drive to benefit CKWL from Nov. 8-Nov. 19. The entire Lexington community is welcome to donate. Every donation of canned food or every one dollar donated at the store will enter participants in a chance to win a prize from one of the sponsors.
On Nov. 12, the community is invited to “Bring Your Turkey to Work” from 8 a.m. to noon at the W&L parking deck. Folks can drop off their birds with the “student turkeys” at the top of the deck or make a monetary donation to support Turkeypalooza and other CKWL programs.
The group will also host its annual “Turkeypalooza Backpack Pack-a-thon” event on Nov. 13 on Cannan Green from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year, volunteers will pack around 6,000 backpacks–a new record for Campus Kitchen–to be distributed to Rockbridge County, Buena Vista and Lexington schools over the holidays.
“Over this past year and a half, we have seen the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our local community, and we have been busier than ever trying to meet that need,” said Ryan Brink, Campus Kitchen coordinator. “This holiday season we are working closely with Rockbridge Area Relief Association, Rockbridge Feeds, and a host of other community organizations to make sure that everyone in our community can have a happy and healthy holiday!”
Members of the community can sponsor one of the backpacking volunteers or make a monetary donation to support the Backpack Program. Contributions can be made online by selecting “Other” and writing in “Campus Kitchen” when asked where you would like to direct your gift.
In addition to serving Thanksgiving meals at community partner sites, Campus Kitchen will distribute frozen turkeys and sides through its Mobile Food Pantry program.
Volunteers are needed for multiple events this year and can sign-up for shifts at EngageWLU.
“As we head into another holiday season in the midst of the turmoil of this pandemic, we thank everyone for their support, whether monetarily, through volunteering or in the form of turkeys,” Brink said.
The mission of The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee is to use service as a way to strengthen bodies, empower minds and build communities through food. Campus Kitchen combats hunger and promotes nutrition by recovering and reusing food that would otherwise go to waste into balanced meals for low-income community members in Rockbridge County.
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