Royals help combat food insecurity on Turkey Tuesday

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY – Every Thanksgiving, Joey Thomas of the Know Joey Foundation aims to feed families in the Kansas City metro area by organizing a 24-hour turkey drive that collects frozen turkeys, non-perishable canned and boxed goods and monetary donations.

He’s been doing it for 17 years. And every year, the food drive evolves a little more to help in different ways.

Several years ago, the Royals joined as a partner in Turkey Tuesday. Three years ago, they began hosting the drive at the Urban Youth Academy for more space. Last year was the first time Harvesters, a Kansas City food bank, joined the cause.

This year, new partners showed up for Kansas City families. C&C Produce in North Kansas City provided hundreds of bags of fresh produce, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, grapes, apples and bananas. Barham Family Farms out in Kearney, Mo., also provided 500 cartons of eggs.

“How amazing is it to be able to add to the donation that we’re already giving?” Donease Smith, executive director of the UYA, said. “We just appreciate that generous donation from them. We know that we’re in a food desert, so just being able to have that fresh produce is very important. And groceries are expensive, especially this time of year. It’s important for us to be a resource for these families and give them the things they need so that they can have a happy holiday.”

Donations were rolling in on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, families will pick up their meals beginning at 11 a.m. at the UYA. “Win Wednesday” not only includes food distribution, but also physical and mental health resources for families and individuals.

“Seventeen years ago, our goal was that we just wanted to feed people,” Thomas said. “Give them some hope. Let them know that there’s somebody who cares. Seventeen years later, that’s still the goal. But we’ve been able to build on it, and we want to keep building on that by helping the whole household for more than just one day.”

Food insecurity is rising in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 13.5 percent (18 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2023, significantly higher than the 12.8 percent (17 million) of households in 2022. In the 27 counties between Missouri and Kansas that Harvesters serves, one in eight people are at risk of hunger, or 12.3 percent of the population.

The need is clearly high. The Royals collected donations for Turkey Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium last week and volunteers boxed up the meal kits at the stadium. And on Wednesday, families will be able to take home food while also learning about the resources that the UYA provides beyond the baseball and softball clinics throughout the year.

“We don’t want to just feed people physically,” Thomas said. “We want to feed them spiritually. We want to feed them with resources. Feed them with knowledge. Even being at the UYA, the first year we did this here, I would say 95 percent of the community that was in need and came here had never been in the UYA. … I think it’s fun to have it here so we can expose what all they do in the community, to show what kinds of resources are in here for the people in this community. And then it’s up to us to take advantage of those resources.”