Holiday food giveaway benefits farmers and families in southeast Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- This Thanksgiving, a local organization is taking care of families and farmers through food distribution.

Tuesday afternoon, roughly 550 turkeys and boxes of fresh, locally grown produce were distributed to families in southeast Fresno.

Fresno Unified Schools were closed Thanksgiving week, but Vang Pao Elementary School in Southeast Fresno was abuzz with activity during the food giveaway.

A line wound through the school parking lot as families with wagons in tow waited to collect a free turkey and box of produce days before the holiday.

The Asian Business Institute and Resource Center, along with the Lao Veterans of America have been maintaining a Crop Buyback Program and food distribution monthly since February.

Tuesday's line was the longest executive director Kee Xiong has seen.

He says people started gathering at 8 am.

"We've got about 550 turkeys to give away," said Xiong. "And I think we've got about, we're pretty close to that amount of people lined up already."

All $20,000 worth of produce handed out Tuesday was bought from small Southeast Asian and Black farmers within the City of Fresno.

"We're not talking about 100 or 200 acres of lemongrass," said Kee Xiong. "This is a small Veteran Farmer that's growing like five acres of lemongrass, and when we're able to buy 1000 dollars worth of his produce, that makes a huge difference to his business."

The giveaway created a direct benefit on both ends from farm to table.. and in between. Families who were collecting boxes of their own also helped with the distribution.

"It makes a huge difference,' said Dee Xiong. "And like, you know, it just feels good. I'd rather be there and be able to be hands-on, help them out too, you know?

The produce families took home was carefully selected with their needs in mind.

"What we're trying to do is provide a little taste of home," said Xiong. "So, some of the produce that we have is green beans, lemongrass, which is very popular in the Southeast Asian community. Some chili peppers, and some mustard greens, just to name a few."

The farmers are happy to see their produce create holiday meals and memories.

"We love giving back to the community and so we'd like to see a huge turnout like this," said Bee Vang, Executive Director of Laos Veterans of America.

On top of the turkey and boxes of about 10 pounds of produce, families were also offered pumpkins and a pomelo providing them with roughly 20 pounds total.

For news updates, follow Kate Nemarich on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.