U-Haul management has a generous tradition of gifting a Thanksgiving turkey to every full- and part-time Team Member in the organization, of which there are roughly 30,000 across the U.S. and Canada.
And many of those Team Members have a longstanding tradition of paying it forward. While the Company provides turkeys so Team Members can bring them home to serve as the centerpiece of a holiday feast, the option to donate their bird to a charity that feeds the less fortunate is too tempting for many kindhearted U-Haul souls to pass up.
In the Valley, a large percentage of the Team Members from the U-Haul Midtown Campus in Phoenix, the U-Haul Technical Center in Tempe, the Glendale Manufacturing Company and the U-Haul Contact Center (including work-from-home Team Members) chose to re-gift their Thanksgiving turkeys to a Arizona family in need.
St. Mary’s Food Bank received 828 turkeys; St. Vincent de Paul received 50 turkeys; and the Glendale School District received 100 turkeys of the 978 donations.
Giving Matters
All three Valley recipients were tremendously appreciative of the turkeys, in large part because the requests, demand and onus on those organizations is much higher during a 2020 calendar year that has seen families plagued by COVID-19 and job losses.
U-Haul centers its community efforts on helping nonprofits that assist people in meeting their basic human needs: food, clothing and shelter. This has long been a focus of U-Haul, which views affordable residential mobility as a basic need. U-Haul strives to make that service available throughout the U.S. and Canada at more than 22,000 truck-and-trailer-sharing locations.
TV Coverage of U-Haul Turkey Donation
FOX 10 and ABC 15 took turns highlighting the generosity of U-Haul Team Members during live morning broadcasts on Nov. 21 during St. Mary’s annual “Super Saturday” event, where the charity collects turkey donations at Safeway and Albertson’s grocery locations around the Valley during the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.
Megan Thompson, ABC 15 reporter, noted on air: “It is a big deal out here and they are doing this at roughly 20 locations across the Valley. Grocery stores like Albertson’s and Safeway, and St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix and Surprise. They are working already here this morning at this Albertson’s to load up these donations from U-Haul. Employees donated more than 800 turkeys this morning. The community is really coming together, especially during this time of need. We know it has been a rough year, and know the need may be far greater for people in the community. That’s why organizations and companies are stepping up here in the Valley.”
Jeff Lockridge, U-Haul Manager of Media and Public Relations, told Fox 10: “St. Mary’s is expecting up to 15,000 families that need a little help putting Thanksgiving dinner on the table this year. … U-Haul is just happy to be able to help out. It’s one of the great things about working at U-Haul. We’ve been headquartered right here in the Valley since 1967, and every year U-Haul management gifts all of our Team Members a Thanksgiving bird. So many of these Team Members, who are so gracious, turn around and donate that gift to St. Mary’s and other charities. We are certainly happy to help out and be part of the solution this year.”
Did you know U-Haul proudly serves as title sponsor of St. Mary’s food drive box program? Look for a donation box near you with the U-Haul logo on the side.
