Starting around 4 a.m. Wednesday and continuing for 12 hours, a group of Hopkinsville Rotarians, along with several friends who came to help, smoked 140 Thanksgiving turkeys for the Boys and Girls Club of Hopkinsville-Christian County.
It was enough turkeys to ensure that every member’s family would receive one.
“This kind of caps off an amazing month for us,” Boys and Girls Club executive director Terrence Davis told Hoptown Chronicle. “We had several families that struggled with food this month because of the government shutdown and the elimination of SNAP benefits.”
The club witnessed an outpouring of community support, including food drives, when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were temporarily stalled.
The turkey project grew out of a connection with Rotarian Cody Willis, who began smoking a small number of birds for Davis a few years ago.
After that first year, Willis told Davis they could use the Rotary Club’s smoker outside the Memorial Building to increase the number of turkeys they prepared for the club — and last year they prepared about 30 turkeys for Davis to distribute to Boys and Girls Club families.
This year, the project grew again when Willis and a friend bought another smoker. Instead of Davis asking how many turkeys Willis could provide, it was Willis asking Davis how many turkeys he could take.
“I’ve got homes for 140 of them,” Davis responded.
The Rotary Club purchased the turkeys from the Walmart Neighborhood Market and also bought food boxes from Food Lion so families would have vegetables sides for their Thanksgiving meal. In addition, Siemer Milling donated Krusteaz brand dessert mixes.
The turkeys were injected with butter and a little Cajun seasoning. Each batch took about three hours to cook.
“I don’t like to slow smoke any kind of poultry. I want to get them crispy and hot,” said Willis.
Davis arranged for families to come by the Boys and Girls Club on Walnut Street in shifts as more turkeys were delivered.
Willis, 39, works in sales at Agri-Chem. He led the turkey project during a busy time for him personally. He was married Saturday, and a few days after Thanksgiving, he and his wife, Taylor, will leave for their honeymoon in Cancun.
“I haven’t even packed,” he said Wednesday morning while he waited for more turkeys to finish smoking.
“This is fun. It’s a challenge to me,” he said. “As long as Terrence has got a place for all of them to go, we’ll make as many turkeys as he needs.”
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
