AMVETS Post 1971 doubles its dinner boxes to send

An upcoming Thanksgiving dinner box giveaway in Perry Village has gotten bigger.

In fact, organizers of the event intend to distribute twice the number of dinner boxes than originally announced.

Perry AMVETS Post 1971 is sponsoring the drive-up program to provide veterans or other area residents in need with the makings for a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner. People can receive the free dinner boxes on a first-come, firstserve basis between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Nov. 14, at Post 1971, located at 4128 Main St.

Thanks to an increase in monetary donations, the organization will now assemble 100 boxes filled with packaged and canned foods for Thanksgiving, along with frozen turkeys to serve as the centerpiece for a holiday meal, said post Commander Jerry Juncker.

When the post first released details on the giveaway late last month, it had received $3,000 in financial contributions to use as seed money for the project. So initially, plans called for 50 Thanksgiving dinner boxes.

However, since that time, the post secured an additional $2,000 in monetary donations. As a result, Juncker and Frank Jones, the post’s second vice commander and chairman of the food giveaway, decided to double the number of Thanksgiving dinner boxes.

Each Thanksgiving box is likely to include items such as jars of gravy; cans of mixed vegetables, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce; and packages of instant mashed potatoes and stuffing.

Post 1971 members and volunteers will load the dinner boxes into cars that pull up to the event. People requesting boxes do not have to be military veterans, and no one in need will be turned away, Juncker said.