PASO ROBLES, Calif. --
Our annual Holiday "Turkey Drive" is tomorrow. Central Coast News is teaming up with the Food Bank
Coalition of San Luis Obispo County to give back.
One volunteer from the food back is
doing the same and he might remind you of another jolly old soul.
Like a Thanksgiving
Santa Claus preparing to load his sleigh the night before Christmas, Ken
Langeworthy is getting ready for Thanksgiving day.
"We can feed a family of about five or six
people for roughly maybe six dollars," says Langeworthy.
Langeworthy knows hunger all too
well. For the last five years, he's been getting meals from the Food Bank
Coalition of San Luis Obispo County.
And just like that other jolly
old man, once Langeworthy has everything packed up, he'll head out into the
community. Only instead of giving away toys, he'll be giving away food to need
families.
"It's one of the most humbling
and rewarding experiences that there is because you get to listen to people talk
about how maybe that one bag of produce or some staples get them through two or
three days of the month," says Langeworthy.
Each Thanksgiving dinner is
prepared depending on the size of the family with a whole turkey, four canned
goods, a box of stuff and lots of produce.
"It means a turkey on a table
that wouldn't otherwise be there in someone's home but in total that's three or
four thousand turkeys that will go out into the community," says The Food Bank
Coalition of San Luis Obispo County Executive Director
Carl Hansen.
And while Ken, minus the red
suit, ships and weighs the dinners for tomorrow's trip, it's clear he and old
St. Nick have the same motivation.
"It's about other people and not
me," says Langeworthy. "It's not about me anymore."
