Hundreds of students put skills to the test to provide family with free turkey

Hundreds of Central Coast kids were put to the test to make sure their families have a turkey at the table this Thanksgiving.

To some, they’re just frozen turkeys.

But to hundreds of kids at Gavilan View Middle School, it’s what will feed their entire family this Thanksgiving.

“We are a Title 1 school, so it is a struggle at the holiday season for some of our students and for some of our students it might not be the tradition to do the turkey dinner, so it’s kind of different,” says Principal Donna Koenig.

338 students took part in the “turkey trot.” They had to race through obstacle courses that included running, sliding and even solving math problems.

“They’re really competitive, like they always want to win. This school’s a competitive school. It’s fun,” says 8th grader Samantha Rey.

“It’s so exciting to see the smiles on their faces because sometimes this is what they’re eating for Thanksgiving and this is the way they’re going to feed their family and have an awesome dinner with them and get to spend time with them so yeah…that’s my favorite part,” says 7th grader Abigail Godoy.

After the competition, the students place and it’s decided who gets to take the turkeys home.

This year, nearly 300 turkeys were donated to Gavilan View…taking up thirteen freezers.

Fortunately the students won’t have to haul these big birds home. The school resource officer helps load up a truck and makes special deliveries to the deserving families.

“We’re feeding families. It’s a fun way to do it, it’s a fun way for our students to feel like they’re providing for their family and that’s what’s really exciting, it’s like, ‘i won that turkey for the family dinner’ and it’s very humbling,” says Koenig.