(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Keep your eyes peeled this weekend for free turkeys.
Outside Pilsen’s Vault Gallery, the hum of a refrigerated container can be heard. It’s connected to a semi-truck and already is loaded with about 2,000 turkeys for this Sunday's 11th annual Turkey Drive.
The caravan will be making the rounds at nearly 10 locations in neighborhoods spanning the South, West and North Sides. Parkway Gardens, 79th and Essex, Little Village and Pilsen are among the stops this year.
“We go to areas that people are afraid to go to,” Turkey Drive caravan organizer Steve Wazwaz said. “Everybody who shows up is multiple races, multiple religions.”
He said that the weekend before Thanksgiving each year is not only a time for communities to come together in sharing abundance, but this event in particular unites groups across the entire city behind one cause.
“All of us are here together doing something positive,” Wazwaz said. “We are all volunteering together. We are raising money together, doing something positive…representing the city of Chicago. Everybody that is a part of this is from Chicago, and we’re doing this for Chicago.”
Vault Gallery owner and non-profit Mural Movement founder Delilah Martinez added that she is continuing efforts to collect winter clothing for recently arrived migrants along with stuffed animals for the children.
Martinez recalled recently seeing the look on the faces of the children after receiving the donated toys.
“It just made me think like, ‘wow, they really need something that they feel safe and comfortable with,” Martinez said.
Turkey, fresh produce and cash donations are still being accepted at Vault Gallery.
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