Annual John DeBella Turkey Drop to benefit Cityteam
PHILADELPHIA » If anyone is a pro at talking turkey, it’s 102.9 WMGK’s John DeBella.
The popular radio personality has been collecting countless turkeys and cash donations since 1983, through his annual “John DeBella Turkey Drop” to benefit Cityteam in Chester. This is DeBella’s 16th year at WMGK collecting frozen turkeys, cash, checks and “free turkey” supermarket coupons through the annual drive that always is held on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
DeBella, partnering with Cityteam Chester, will hold the 2017 drive Tuesday, Nov. 21, outside of the Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, and at select Giant store locations throughout the tri-state area. People can stop by between 6 and 9 a.m. at all the locations to drop off turkeys and financial contributions. The Jose Garces Group will provide free hot chocolate for those that stop by the Kimmel Center site, where DeBella will be broadcasting his show live.
With DeBella positioned at the Kimmel Center, other WMGK onair staff will be at the Giant supermarket sites accepting donations. Everyone who comes out to donate can meet WMGK personalities and be entered to win a Butterball Electric Fryer by Masterbuilt and a $20 Butterball Turkey gift check at each location. Everyone that makes a $100 donation or more at the Kimmel Center or any of the Pennsylvania Giant stores will receive a $25 free slot play card from Parx Casino.
The area Giant locations where collections will take place include: 116 W. Township Line Road, Havertown; 2721 Street Road, Bensalem; 310 S. Henderson Road, King of Prussia; 2350 Susquehanna Road, Roslyn; 550 E. Lancaster Ave., St. Davids; 720 Street Road, Warminster; 1375 Boot Road, West Chester; 1800 Marlton Pike West, Cherry Hill, N.J.; and Turnersville Auto Mall, 3400-A Route 42, Turnersville, N.J.
Cityteam staff, including Director Kwinn Tucker and Director of Development Nancy Gibbons Craskey, will also be at the Kimmel Center on collection day, mostly to express gratitude to each and every person who makes a donation.
“Honestly, I don’t know what we would do without John DeBella and his generosity of having this turkey drive each year and his generous listeners,” Gibbons Craskey shared. “Our need grows every year, but thank God, so do the donations for John DeBella’s annual Turkey Drop.”
Cityteam Philadelphia is a Christian-based ministry that serves the city of Chester and the surrounding communities with food services, a residential homeless shelter, programs for drug and alcohol recovery and help for mothers and babies. Cityteam serves over 1,300 households each year and about 3,000 children. According to Tucker, more than 150 people eat their meals at Cityteam every day.
“Cityteam doesn’t receive any state or government funding,” Gibbons Craskey stated. “So we rely on individual and corporate donors and some grants for support.”
DeBella, partnering with Cityteam Chester, will hold the 2017 drive Tuesday, Nov. 21, outside of the Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, and at select Giant store locations throughout the tri-state area. People can stop by between 6 and 9 a.m. at all the locations to drop off turkeys and financial contributions. The Jose Garces Group will provide free hot chocolate for those that stop by the Kimmel Center site, where DeBella will be broadcasting his show live
Gibbons Craskey said that Cityteam will help provide Thanksgiving and turkey dinners for about 900 families this year. For Thanksgiving alone, Cityteam will make and distribute 1,800 food boxes, which will include a turkey and everything that a family needs to make Thanksgiving dinner at home. Additionally, Cityteam staff and volunteers will also provide a full Thanksgiving dinner at Cityteam, Seventh and Sproul streets in Chester, for anyone in need. When the holiday season comes to a close, CityTeam will have distributed a total of more than 3,000 turkeys to low-income families and charitable organizations.
Gibbons Craskey said that the cash donations received during DeBella’s annual drive are used to purchase any additional turkeys needed, as well as the other food products that will accompany the turkey such as cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and stuffing. If there are any funds left after purchasing the needed items, the donations are used toward the Christmas food distributions.
The WMGK annual turkey drive only accepts turkeys and monetary donations, but no other food items.
“We use the monetary donations to buy all the other food items because we can get it all at a decent price from wholesalers. This way, we can be reassured that we will have everything we need to distribute to those who need it.”
DeBella ups the ante in collection goals every year, with his annual goal not centering around an actual number, but instead aiming to top the year’s previous total. In 2016, DeBella’s collection totaled 9,869 birds, and in 2015, the number was slightly above 9,400. He begins pumping up the Turkey Drop on his radio show and through other promotions at the end of October and continues through the weeks leading up to the big day.
The annual John DeBella Turkey Drop is the largest one-day food gathering event in Philadelphia. In a recent interview, DeBella said it all started with a newspaper classified ad that he saw in 1983 asking for a donation of $25 to provide a full Thanksgiving dinner for a family of six.
“I kept thinking about that ad,” DeBella remembered. “We just take Thanksgiving dinner for granted. I couldn’t imagine not having enough money or resources to have Thanksgiving dinner. Yet it’s a reality that some people don’t. That ad jolted me into thinking about how one simple act could impact lives. At the time, I was on the radio at WMMR, and I knew if I could ask listeners to help, I could provide more than just six people with Thanksgiving dinner. So I told the listeners on air that I would be at 19th and Walnut streets on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and to stop by and say ‘Hi’ and drop off a turkey.”
DeBella named his drive the Turkey Drop in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous 1978 “Turkey Drop” episode on the thenpopular sitcom, “WKRP in Cincinnati.”
In his very first year out of the studio and on the street, DeBella collected 150 turkeys. In the following year, the number increased to 400, then 800 in the next, and the rest is history as totals in proceeds and poultry inched up to near the 10,000 mark in recent years. When DeBella went to WMGK, the Turkey Drop went with him. He announces live on-air throughout the morning show how many turkeys are being dropped off and who stops by with monetary contributions.
“Every year, my very first donor is this guy from Bob’s Diner. The annual turkey drop has many loyal friends, like the guys from the Electrician’s Union and others who come out, year after year. I look forward to seeing them, I really do,” the affable longtime DJ said.
DeBella said he never ceases to be amazed by donors’ big hearts and generosity, year after year.
“Last year, Samantha Krepps of Giant food stores stopped by with a big surprise. I thought she was going to give us a check for a couple of hundred dollars,” DeBella said, still sounding blown away by the donation, “But instead she presented a check for $7,500! She has always been a humongous supporter of the Turkey Drop and Cityteam.”
This is the second year the Turkey Drop will be held outside of the Kimmel Center. In previous years, the Drop was held in Love Park, but it had to move last year due to construction
Local sponsors kick in to ensure the drive’s enormous success.
According to a news release from the 2016 drive, in addition to the generous Giant donation, Parx Casino donated $10,000. The 2017 sponsors of DeBella’s Turkey Drop will again include Giant and Parx Casino, as well as Horizon Services, Dietz & Watson, Hyundai of Turnersville, Local 1776 United Food and Commercial Workers, Creamery Tire.
DeBella could not say enough good things about the Turkey Drop sponsors.
“Everyone kicks in to make this day really successful,” DeBella remarked.
Dietz & Watson transports the turkeys from the Giant Food Store locations to City Team in Delaware County. The WMGK air staff promotes the Turkey Drop program, and about 100 volunteers fan out across the Chester area to deliver the turkeys and food boxes to individuals and families in need.
“When I came back to radio at MGK after a short time away 16 years ago, I was a little nervous,” laughed DeBella, thinking about the memory. “I talked with my friend Pierre Robert, in my truck, and he said, ‘Just go in there and use your powers to do good.’ So I never looked back and have done that ever since. Because of my listeners, I have a job where I can do what I love and meet great people. I just feel so fortunate and so I really needed and wanted to give back.”
In his 35 years of radio broadcasting in Philadelphia at WMMR and WMGK, DeBella has always promoted the charities in which he believes. DeBella said he grew up poor in New York but never remembers wanting for anything.
“I never realized I was ‘the poor kid’ until I became an adult,” DeBella said. “I think of my parents a lot, especially my father. My parents always made sure we had warm and wonderful holidays. I was really fortunate.”
DeBella credited his early formative years for laying the foundation for his later passion for doing good and making a difference.
“I may look like I have a hard exterior,” DeBella joked, “but I am really a complete marshmallow.”
In addition to the WMGK Turkey Drop, the very generous, very personable DeBella has hosted the annual Dog Walk in Fairmount Park to find homes for animals and an annual War Veterans Radiothon to benefit the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service Center. In 2014, DeBella received an on-air donation of $10,000 from performer Rod Stewart during the Veterans Radiothon.
“You never feel better than you do when you help those who are less fortunate than yourself,” DeBella said with a serious tone. “Being in a position to make a difference, to help others is my favorite part of this job.”
DeBella said he has turned down offers to syndicate his radio show in the past because doing so would take him away from the local listener base and put him on a national platform.
“Once I would syndicate, I wouldn’t be able to affect my local market any more. Being local is the best way to have cause and effect,” DeBella explained. “I like being in direct contact with my listeners and being a part of the community here. I like how we all work together to do something good.”
DeBella sat still for a moment and reflected.
“It’s amazing how doing very simple things, like just donating a turkey or giving a few bucks, can make someone’s life so much better,” he said.
To make an online donation to the 2017 102.9MGK John DeBella Turkey Drop, visit WMGK.com. To donate directly to CityTeam or to volunteer, visit www.cityteam.org/philadelphia or call 610-8726865.