INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Every year, dozens of volunteers from Indian River County Fire Rescue come together to prep, cook, and deliver a couple hundred turkeys to organizations and fire stations around the county in time for Thanksgiving.
This year, nearly 300 turkeys will end up on the dinner tables of needy families, banquet tables at the homeless shelter and soup kitchens, and in the kitchens of fire houses for those who pulled Thanksgiving duty.
The effort to provide as close to a normal Thanksgiving feast as possible to so many comes from the Big Heart Brigade, a tri-county non-profit group consisting mostly of emergency responders.
“It’s a great opportunity to help the community,” said Fire Medic Vinnie Naldony, who’s been participating in the brigade for the last several years.
Naldony usually winds up working Thanksgiving, so he can’t really get to help people on that particular day.
“It’s a great thing Steve’s (Lt. Steve Graul) brought,” Naldony said. Graul helped expand the Big Heart Brigade into Indian River County. “There’s a lot more families in need now.”
Firefighters, medics and other volunteers spent this week prepping the turkeys – clearing out the neck bones and gizzards and wrapping them in aluminum foil. They then arranged the 290 birds in three batches on the 112-bird capacity gas grill to cook for several hours. By Wednesday, most of the turkeys were ready to be delivered. A few more deliveries were expected on Thursday.
Wednesday afternoon, the firefighters delivered 25 turkeys and all the traditional trimmings to Redlands Christian Migrant Association – or RCMA – on County Road 512. As the refrigerated truck on loan from Ken Gregory Produce pulled into the parking lot, several children shouted “Turkeys!”
“A lot of these parents wouldn’t be able to afford a traditional Thanksgiving dinner,” RCMA Director Laura Perez. She added that it was exciting to her to see their excitement at being able to provide a feast for their families.
The 14 families at RCMA that are registered with Head Start received the turkeys, Perez said. The remaining 11 turkeys were taken to RCMA’s Whispering Pines facility in Fellsmere.
Others to receive turkeys included The Source, Samaritan Center, Feed the Lambs, Gifford Soup Kitchen, Operation Hope, Salvation Army, and the Hibiscus Children’s Center.
Lt. Graul said this year’s Big Heart Brigade event would not have been possible without the support of their sponsors. Those sponsors included Indian River Medical Center, which provided money to purchase turkeys; AmeriGas, which provided the gas needed to cook the birds; the Vero Beach Firefighters Association, the Ryanwood Publix, and Ken Gregory Produce.
The volunteers, too, made the event run smoothly.
“It’s hard to put it on without their help,” Graul said.
