WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. – MIRA has provided more than 6,000 families in the Metro Detroit and Lansing, Michigan, areas and the Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, areas with free turkeys for their Thanksgiving dinners.
MIRA is the leading trade association for the food, beverage and petroleum industries in Michigan and Ohio. This is the 32nd consecutive year that MIRA has provided needy families with turkeys for the holidays. Since 1980, the MIRA Foundation’s program has donated more than 60,000 turkeys in the Detroit, Lansing, Columbus and Cleveland areas.
This was the largest turkey distribution from the MIRA’s members in the past 32 years and is likely the largest free turkey distribution ever in the state of Michigan.
The great success of the Michigan Turkey Drive over the years has inspired MIRA’s Turkey Drive in Ohio. “Many retailers and other local businesses have given generously to this program,” said Auday Arabo, MIRA president and CEO, in a press release. “This is one way our local independent retailers work together with the community to provide needy families with a holiday meal.”
What makes this year’s Thanksgiving giveaway even more important is the fact that wholesale turkey prices have risen more than 10 percent over last year, making it even more difficult for needy families to have a good traditional Thanksgiving meal.
