\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest event of the year,\u201d said Daniel Bentle, chief philanthropy officer of the Food Bank of Alaska.<\/p>\n
They came in hopes of a Thanksgiving meal. Families stood in line \u2014 many with small children \u2014 braving below-freezing temperatures, even though the doors of the Real Life Church in Palmer, Alaska, would not open for another two and a half hours, on Saturday morning, November 22, 2025.<\/p>\n
Downloadable\u00a0SOTs\u00a0and\u00a0B-roll<\/p>\n
Food for Thought<\/p>\n
Nearly 15% of Alaskans struggle with food insecurity. That\u2019s around 106,000 people out of a population of 700,000.<\/p>\n
To help meet this need, the Food Bank of Alaska (FBA) organized Thanksgiving Blessing. \u201cWe\u2019ve got 11 different sites between Anchorage and the [Matanuska and Susitna] Valley and Eagle River,\u201d said Bentle.<\/p>\n
The two-day event provides the makings for 12,000 Thanksgiving dinners, including butter from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a delicacy that can cost up to US$10.00 a pound in a state with only one dairy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving dairy brought into the state and the support that we\u2019ve gotten from [the Church] is incredible,\u201d added Bentle.<\/p>\n
Krystal Poole and her four children were among the first families to experience the walkthrough-style distribution setup in Palmer, which offered canned goods, potatoes, stuffing mix, biscuit mix, pies, and a frozen turkey, among other items, which were available at all distribution sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a single mom with all my children here, working full time, it\u2019s still hard,\u201d said Poole. \u201cFood costs are really high right now, and when it comes to Thanksgiving, you still want to provide that good meal for your family, [which] is definitely a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a blessing,\u201d said Jessica Betham, who came to the Thanksgiving Blessing distribution at the Church of Jesus Christ meetinghouse in Anchorage, Alaska. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I would do. My two youngest [children] have kidney disease. I\u2019m not able to make as much [money] as I would like because I have to work from home. So, this helps me tons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers<\/p>\n
The annual event would not happen without hundreds of volunteers like Helen Maea, who has served since her son was a baby 12 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps me feel like I\u2019m doing good back to the people that helped me. I feel like this is the way to do it,\u201d said Maea. \u201cI wanted to change my life off the street \u2014 being homeless, struggling and just going down the wrong path \u2014 and getting to know God better, it helped change my life around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harper Montgomery is enjoying a rare trip home, on break from school on the East Coast. Her time with family is precious, but it\u2019s also important to Montgomery to serve her neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love seeing the smiles on all the family\u2019s faces, and it honestly makes me feel like I\u2019m doing \u2026 a good thing. I just really like doing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints served at several Thanksgiving Blessing sites. Elder Heaton, from Nevada, said, \u201cThere are all sorts of different types of backgrounds here. And it really shows to me that we are all children of God, and we can all use a little more help and a little more love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers are from all walks of life and denominations, working shoulder to shoulder, who ensure every patron is treated with dignity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the fact that they make you feel like you\u2019re not getting a handout,\u201d said Betham. \u201cIt\u2019s warm, and it\u2019s welcoming, and it\u2019s kind of, \u2018We\u2019re here to help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow grateful we are for those who will come and participate,\u201d said Jeff Taylor, president of the Wasilla Alaska Stake (a group of congregations) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t have people that we could serve, it would be a lonely world.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Collaborative Effort<\/p>\n
The massive endeavor takes months of planning and collaboration by dozens of businesses and interfaith organizations.<\/p>\n
The Church of Jesus Christ is part of that collaboration. \u201c[The Church] has stepped in to just provide shipment after shipment after shipment of support,\u201d said Bentle.<\/p>\n
In Tacoma, Washington, TOTE Maritime Alaska provided free shipping by sea for the Church\u2019s 40,000-pound container of butter and cheese on its final leg to Anchorage.<\/p>\n
\u201cTOTE sponsors 40 containers a year from the lower 48 [states],\u201d said Frank Kelly, chief operating officer for Food Bank of Alaska. \u201cFrom the Port of Tacoma to the Port of Alaska here in Anchorage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larry Green, manager for Welfare and Self-Reliance Services, who helps organize the Church\u2019s efforts with FBA, said he\u2019s grateful for the \u201ckindness and generosity\u201d demonstrated by TOTE. \u201cTo be able to plug into that was phenomenal. Because otherwise these truckload donations would just be to the [lower 48 states].\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Projects and the Future<\/p>\n
While Thanksgiving is one of the greatest needs of the year, it\u2019s not the only need FBA meets with help from organizations like the Church of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
In October, the Church donated semitruckloads of food from its Bishops\u2019 Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City to help with several other challenges in Alaska.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, of course, is a unique beast. We\u2019ve had the response effort for Typhoon Halong in Western Alaska,\u201d recalled Bentle. \u201cWe\u2019ve had the impacts of the government shutdown that we\u2019ve just been working against over the last several weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Church plans further collaboration with FBA in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat collaboration has been wonderful, that listening ear, that desire to help, has been fantastic with us,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cThe support that the Church has given the Food Bank of Alaska really allows us to fulfill our mission in ways that we wouldn\u2019t be able to do so otherwise. It\u2019s greatly appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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