Sharing Gratitude This Season

6th Annual Tofurkey Drive Success!

We wanted to take a moment to share our incredible gratitude we have for the wonderful supporters of the 6th Tofurkey Drive | Vegan Feasts for Low Income Community​. This year’s event was the greatest success to date. We accommodated nearly 2x the requests of 2018 and were able to produce 75 meals which fed nearly 300 individuals. Due to this growth we did not budget for such an increase so it cut into our coffers but we had enough to cover all costs for the event and will work to replenish.

Each year we experience different challenges and this year was no different. The first challenge was our normal supplier of Roasts sold out for the year weeks before the event. Thank goodness for Trader Joe’s-Spokane,WA​ came in and saved the day. They were able to order 60(Our original estimate with some growth). Then we found that we were breaking 70 orders so we got to go store to store to find an additional 15 Tofurky​ brand roasts at Safeway. We found the final ones on the night before deliveries.The bummer about going retail instead of buying from our supplier was each Roast cost $5-6 dollars more, which really hit our budget hard.

A few of the amazing angels who helped make this’years event happen. These individuals spent hours organizing all of the meals. Without their love and support, it was not possible. We are forever thankful to each and every one of them!

Next was Daiya Foods cheesecake. This year we wanted to provide more options for dessert to the participants. This was a great idea but we did not expect the flood of people wanting Daiya New York Style Cheesecake instead of Pumpkin Pie or Apple Pie. In the end, there were 30 pumpkin pies requested and 28 Daiya Cheesecakes. We anticipated 12 originally. So then we had to find a source for these cheesecakes. We found a supplier and made it work.

But what about the Egg NOG!!! This year there was no So Delicious Dairy Free​ Cocoout Egg nog available to be ordered by our sponsor Huckleberry’s Natural Market​. We searched high and low and were only able to find 7 at a Target, which did not really help our need of 70+. So we turned to Silk​ our old favorite and Fred Meyer on the south hill was able to provide 40 and then we got another 30 from Natural Grocers​ to cover all orders.

 

But now how do you deliver 75 meals??? We had never had such numbers and we had less delivery drivers than past years so we had to get creative. This year we partnered with Huckleberry’s Natural Market and Rosauers Supermarkets like never before. The 3 locations( Main Huckleberry’s, Rosauers Supermarkets at the Y, and Rosauers Supermarkets​) U City took on this drive and allowed almost 1/2 of the recipients to pick up their meals. We are so grateful for these stores and do no know how we could have done this event without them! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

In the end the event cost just over $2700 and we received $1700 from local donations and sponsors. If you would like to help this event or our other programs you may donate to INVeg through paypal: donate@kindliving.org

So it was a wild and wonderful event. We learned a lot and created some new great relationships with local businesses. Thank you again to our wonderful sponsors who truly made this happen including but not limited to Animal Advocates of the Inland Northwest​, Huckleberry’s Natural Market, Grocery Outlet of the Spokane Valley, Trader Joe’s-Spokane,WA and Double J Dog Ranch plus the wonderful independent supporters. We also want to thank our wonderful team of angels who helped put all the meals together this year and also deliver. We are really excited to do it all again next year. Thank you Spokane!!!

Here is a video overview of the event.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to each of these individuals and everyone who helped make the 2019 Tofurkey Drive Happen.