Philadelphia Supermarket Holds 'Turkey Bowling' Contest To Put Spotlight On Hunger
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A supermarket in Port Richmond held its annual turkey bowling contest today, to draw attention to its annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway program.
Not to worry -- they weren't rolling real frozen turkeys, just plastic replicas.
The contestants, representing Philabundance ("Team Philadelphia") and the South Jersey Food Bank ("Team South Jersey"), included two members of the Harlem Globetrotters.
The target was a 12-stack of paper towels, and it was all pretty wacky. The Philly Phanatic and Harlem Globetrotter mascot were on hand to add another level of absurdity to the event, which was designed to draw attention to the very serious problem of hunger.
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"This is wonderful," says Orien Reid, with ShopRite's "Partners in Sharing" program. "It's something you can have fun with while you're raising awareness about the problem in our community. "
ShopRite is donating 100 cases of turkeys to the two food banks.
Marlo Delsordo of Philabundance says with a record 49 million Americans now in poverty, hunger has never been more widespread.
"We have found that the need is up 26 percent from this time last year," she told KYW Newsradio, "and that really speaks to people seeing more individuals and families turning to food assistance. They just can't provide and make it on their own."
On top of that, says Delsordo, food prices are the highest in 36 years.
The program's annual turkey donation has provided more than 700,000 pounds of turkey to food banks.
Reported by Paul Kurtz, KYW Newsradio 1060
