ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Thanksgiving may last just one day, but it takes months for Roadrunner Food Bank workers to prepare for their food distribution ahead of the holiday.

“It takes a ton of putting things together in order for us to be here, we have to find appropriate locations, we have to get all the volunteers, we have to get the food. It takes about eight weeks from the time that you order food till it comes in by the truckload,” said Katy Anderson, chief programs officer of Roadrunner Food Bank. 

The weekend of giving started at Rio Grande High School. Anderson says people camped out overnight to make sure they got food for their families.

“We were prepared for a lot of folks to show up. The need is great, very unfortunately, this time of year. With the rise of cost of food and a host of other challenges going on. There are a lot of folks that find themselves in a difficult situation,” said Anderson.   

60 volunteers packed vehicles and cadets with the Albuquerque Police Academy volunteered their time to guide traffic. 

“We’ve got a couple boxes of food, one dry good box. We also have a box hat has holiday specific foods in it. We’ve got chickens out today a lot of folks I know look for turkey, but turkey tends to be a little more on the expensive side,” Anderson said. 

There’s enough food for each family to take up to three whole chickens. They also have potatoes, fruit, and flowers.

On Sunday morning, it was round two for food distribution at Roadrunner Food Bank. On Monday, they will be at Expo New Mexico to serve the International District. 

“We’ve got enough for 1,200 families at each of the distributions, and we have some extras too, just to make sure that we get as many people food as we can,” said Anderson.