Poor Robert’s Mission conducts annual turkey giveaway at National Shrine parking lot

More than 50 volunteers gathered Nov. 22 in the parking lot of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to distribute Thanksgiving turkeys to organizations that help the needy.

The annual turkey distribution was conducted by Poor Robert’s Mission, a charitable outreach serving those in need in the Washington area. A total of about 7,200 turkeys were distributed to churches, youth centers, soup kitchens, schools, homeless shelters and other social service outreaches.

In the photos above and below, volunteers at the Poor Robert’s Mission’s annual turkey distribution on Nov. 22 at the National Shrine’s parking lot helped stack boxes of turkeys and then loaded them onto the vehicles of community organizations that will distribute them to area families and individuals for Thanksgiving. (CS photos/Andrew Biraj)

“It is a hodgepodge group we donate to, but they are all doing grassroots help in their communities,” said Molly McNamara Hugo, a Poor Robert’s Mission board member who was among those distributing the turkeys. “The goal is to give to people in their time of need.”

Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory met with volunteers and Poor Robert’s Mission board members prior to the start of the distribution, offering a blessing over them, the turkeys, the donors and those who would receive the food.

“Thanks for being a part of this gesture of kindness,” the cardinal told the volunteers. “So many of our neighbors are finding it harder and harder to put food on the table.”

In the photos above and below, before the Poor Robert’s Mission’s annual turkey distribution on Nov. 22 at the National Shrine’s parking lot, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory offers a prayer of blessing for volunteers and donors supporting the effort, the community organizations picking up the turkeys, and the local families and individuals who will receive the turkeys for their Thanksgiving meals. (CS photos/Andrew Biraj)

The work of Poor Robert’s Mission began in 1967, when Bobby Abbo and patrons of his family’s Roma Restaurant raised money for the Little Sisters of the Poor. Poor Robert’s was formally established as a charity in 1981, and after Abbo’s death in 2014, his nephew, Zachary Huke, has led the outreach, which supports community organizations in serving local families.

“What we do is very direct. We have one cause, and that is to raise money to buy Thanksgiving turkeys for others,” Huke said. “We are meeting a real human need – the need to eat.”

Huke said that by the end of the giveaway, 96 area charities would receive turkeys with a total estimated weight of 48 tons, and that between 35,000 and 70,000 people would be fed from what was distributed.

Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory at center, who said a prayer before Poor Robert’s Mission’s annual turkey distribution on Nov. 22 at the parking lot of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, stands with Zachary Huke at right who leads the outreach. At left is Msgr. Walter Rossi, the basilica’s rector. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)

Before the Poor Robert’s Mission’s annual turkey distribution on Nov. 22 at the National Shrine’s parking lot, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory stands with some students who were volunteering there that morning. (CS photos/Andrew Biraj)

“The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has been hosting Poor Robert’s Mission turkey giveaway in our parking lot for many years,” said Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the National Shrine. “We are happy at this important time of the year to help feed those who might otherwise go without.”

In the photos above and below, student volunteers help out at the Poor Robert’s Mission’s annual turkey distribution on Nov. 22 at the National Shrine’s parking lot. (CS photos/Andrew Biraj)

Poor Robert’s Mission conducts annual turkey giveaway at National Shrine parking lot

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