Fresno State students help load turkeys for delivery to Community Food Bank and Poverello House.

Thanks to the 2009 Give a Gobbler campaign, 102 student-produced Fresno State turkeys will help feed the area’s hungry this Thanksgiving.

The first of two winter holiday season deliveries will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, at Gibson Farm Market on campus when trucks from Community Food Bank and Poverello House pick up the turkeys.

Students enrolled in the poultry program at California State University, Fresno’s Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology’s Animal Science Department and their professor, Dr. Michelle Ganci, will be on hand to hand over the turkeys they raised.

Through Give a Gobbler, donors pay $25 to purchase a Fresno State frozen turkey that is distributed to a family in need. This is the third season for Give a Gobbler, which is coordinated by the Jordan College and its student-operated Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market in collaboration with Zacky Farms, which processes the birds for the poultry program.

University President John D. Welty and Associated Students Inc. President Jessica Sweeten launched this year’s campaign with a goal of 200 turkeys, half of which will be donated for Thanksgiving and half by Christmas. The second delivery is tentatively set for Dec. 23.

The Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team has committed money and community support includes Fresno dentist Tamer Michiel, who offered patients a teeth-whitening special for $75 and donated $25 of it to Give a Gobbler Campaign.

“We are grateful to community partners like Dr. Michiel and our own Bulldogs baseball team as well as many others who are supporting our students in this worthy cause to help feed less-fortunate neighbors during the holidays,” said President Welty. “We encourage everyone to keep contributing so we can reach the second goal and deliver more Fresno State turkeys at Christmas.”

Donors can participate in Give a Gobbler at the Gibson Farm Market (Barstow and Chestnut avenues) or by sending a check, payable to CSUF Agricultural Foundation, to: Director, Agricultural Operations, 2385 E. Barstow Ave., AG85, Fresno, CA 93740. Please indicate Poverello House or Community Food Bank as the recipient. A tax-deduction receipt is available from the nonprofits upon request.

The Gibson Farm Market, a retail outlet for student-produced Fresno State farm-fresh products, is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

The farm market will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 25-27.

For more information, call: 559.278.4511.

Related links:

Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market

Fresno State launches 2009 Give a Gobbler drive Nov. 9