With Thanksgiving around the corner, the Berkeley Police Association, or BPA’s annual Turkey Basket fundraiser is well underway.
The fundraiser aims to provide underprivileged families with entire Thanksgiving meals, with each basket containing a whole turkey, sides, bread rolls and a dessert. The baskets are assembled by volunteers the day before Thanksgiving and distributed to those in need through various community organizations.
Each year, more than 100 volunteers gather to assemble the baskets.Many prominent community figures joined the cause last year, including Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii, City Manager Paul Buddenhagen, Berkeley Police Chief Jennifer Louis and City Council Members Ben Bartlett and Igor Tregub.
In 2024, BPA broke its record by delivering 1,100 meals and wishes to break it again this year.
Funding for the initiative is entirely donation-based and organized by BPA through GoFundMe. As of press time, the organization has collected $11,725 and has thereby surpassed its $10,000 goal.
“We use every penny,” said Scott Castle, a sergeant at BPD. “If you donate, that’s what it goes to … If we have any left over, it just goes to the next year.”
Castle, one of several organizers of this year’s event, said the roots of the fundraiser stretch back to the 1980s, when officers in the department would complete a bike ride from Berkeley to Tahoe and raise donations along the way to feed families in need.After a brief hiatus, the event was revived and transformed into what it is today.
According to the Turkey Basket GoFundMe page, BPA has “never had to say no to a community group that has asked for assistance in providing Thanksgiving meals” in previous years. Castle said BPA has so far upheld that standard this year.
“Some (organizations) have reached out and asked for a little bit more this year,” Castle said, adding that food insecurities have been on BPA’s radar. He said one community partner, Philips Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, couldn’t secure turkeys through its usual channel due to issues with government funding and BPA plans to provide the church with 100 turkeys.
Organizations receiving meals through the fundraiser this year include various Berkeley senior centers, Berkeley Youth Alternatives, the Multicultural Institute, the Philips Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and more.
For Castle, providing food to his community is an act of “goodness in a time when that’s important.”
“I love it. It has a special place in my heart because it just comes from a place of goodness,” Castle said. “It’s a chance for … the association and the department … to give back.”