FOLSOM, Calif. — A 15-year-old Folsom nonprofit operating in the Sacramento area will donate thousands of turkeys to charity ahead of Thanksgiving.
Friends of Folsom will donate 4,000 turkeys to the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services this year, according to Jeff Garcia, the nonprofit’s president. The organization purchases the poultry through monetary donations, he said.
“Over the last 15 years, we've been able to feed 85,000 families,” Garcia said.
In addition to raising money for purchasing turkeys, he said Friends of Folsom also runs its “Buy-1-More” event outside grocery stores, where the group puts a freezer truck in the parking lot, and charities ask folks going into the store if they’re willing to buy one extra turkey for someone in need.
“Then, we do kind of a cash prize, meaning that we donate in tiers…first, second and third…of those charities that bring in the most turkeys,” Garcia said.
After Garcia donated 50 turkeys in the early 2000s, his friends and family joined him in donations the subsequent year, he said. The year after that, some of his customers donated, too. Garcia owns Data Driven Group, a marketing company.
“About the third or fourth year, somebody asked us for a tax deduction...That's what really spawned us into starting a 501c3,” he said.
So, Friends of Folsom was founded in 2009.
A Christmastime program
Friends of Folsom also launches its adopt-a-family program around Christmas.
Families turn in a sheet documenting their needs for the holiday, and Friends of Folsom works to buy the gifts for that family, Garcia said.
He said the program serves roughly 100 families per year, and in total it’s served over 1,000 households.
After their first turkey drive as a 501c3, the organization had leftover money, which prompted the adopt-a-family program, according to Garcia.
“Then, people inevitably gave us money after the deadline, so then we would use that to put it into the community,” he said. “Now, we just raise funds yearround.”
Friends of Folsom has reportedly sponsored dozens of youth athletic teams, aided a family that lost a member who was its primary source of income, and put over $1 million into the community by funding other charities or causes.
“We're very proud of the fact that we've purchased two prosthetic legs for folks in need in Folsom,” Garcia said.
