The turkey truck arrived at Port Townsend Food Bank on Nov. 25, delivering 375 turkeys for families in Port Townsend. The turkeys are donated annually by Arrow Lumber to local food banks in every area where they own a store. This year, they’re donating to 12 food banks across Western Washington. “Every year it’s nice to look at the calendar and see the delivery day come up,” said Cadian Hendricks, vice president and manager at the Port Townsend Arrow Lumber. “I know that it’s going to be a good Monday.” According to Hendricks, Arrow Lumber has been donating turkeys to the Port Townsend Food Bank for the last 10 years. “The number has increased over the years, based solely on the need,” he said. “We provide whatever the needs are of the food bank.” This year, that need is 375 turkeys, which will be available to the public at the food bank on Nov. 27. “There are four food banks in East Jefferson County and the other three often have to hustle to get food for Thanksgiving,” said Shirley Moss, manager of the Port Townsend Food Bank. “We don’t have to worry, we can know that we’ll have enough turkeys to feed everyone who wants one.” In October, the food bank served 1,482 households. That equals around 3,245 people in total. “We traditionally do about 340 to 350 families per week,” she said. “We will have 100 more families this week, because people use us for Thanksgiving who don’t normally come to the food bank.” The food bank went through 54,134 pounds of food last month. Much of that food is donated by grocery stores or farms, but more than 20,000 pounds were bought through the organization Food Lifeline, which provides food to food banks for 3 cents per pound. Donations like Arrow Lumber’s turkeys are just as important as monetary donations during the holidays, Moss said. “When people give money, we use it to buy food,” she said. “I think it’s exciting for people to know that every dollar is 33 pounds of food.” On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Moss said they are likely to see around 450 families. The food bank opens at 10 a.m. and will stay open until everyone is served. For Arrow Lumber, the traditional turkey donation speaks to the company’s local-minded mission. It was started by two men, Barney Wagner and his 16-year-old protege Shawn Roehr in 1997. “Barney is a very religious man,” Moss said. “He told me the story of how he used to go on walks and talk to God. One time he was praying and said, ‘When I have more, I’ll do more.’ and God said, ‘No, you’ll do more now.’”