ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Hundreds of Central Florida families found holiday relief Saturday as the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office gave away 600 turkeys just days before Thanksgiving. <\/p>\n
The event drew cars lining up before dawn at the sheriff\u2019s office\u2019s Central Operations Center, a testament to the deep need still affecting local households following the recent government shutdown and ongoing delays in food assistance benefits such as SNAP<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThese events mean food on the table,\u201d said one of the three women who waited in line before sunrise. \u201cThe prices of everything are going up and frustration over prices (…) with me, I don\u2019t get food stamps, so I\u2019m doing it on my own. You gotta do what you gotta do.\u201d<\/p>\n [EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>] <\/p>\n While the government shutdown ended earlier this month, many families are still waiting for SNAP benefit payments to resume, leaving a gap that local nonprofits, food banks, and law enforcement agencies are scrambling to fill. <\/p>\n According to Orange County Sheriff John Mina, this year\u2019s turkey giveaway was more important than ever. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done this every single year, but with everything going down, shut down, and people\u2019s benefits being frozen until recently, there\u2019s such a great need. You can tell the people here are very thankful,\u201d Mina said.\u200b<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s office, supported by deputies and volunteers, provided each family with a turkey and a full box of traditional fixings. According to organizers, families began arriving as early as 3 a.m. hoping to secure one of the coveted turkeys or available gift cards. <\/p>\n \u201cMore and more people have definitely showed up. With prices rising and paychecks not covering as much, every bit helps,\u201d Mina said.\u200b<\/p>\n Recipients described the event as a vital lifeline during tough times. <\/p>\n \u201cI get food stamps and it\u2019s like this. My kids are grown, but I have grandkids and we\u2019re trying to survive,\u201d one mother said. \u201cBut our country, we can\u2019t have all these people working for the government and not doing anything (…) you should work your job and get paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n If you missed this year\u2019s annual turkey giveaway, the following locations will be handing out food throughout the week.<\/p>\n Archie Gordon Memorial Park at 420 Buenaventura Blvd, Kissimmee, FL 34743<\/p>\n Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n Drive through for a turkey and Thanksgiving meal essentials for Osceola residents.<\/p>\n Heart of Florida United Way<\/p>\n Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.<\/p>\n Thanksgiving meal essentials and a grocery gift card. Registration is required for (Orange\/Osceola\/Seminole) residents.<\/p>\n Solid Rock Community Church at 1904 Michigan Ave, Kissimmee, FL 34744<\/p>\n Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n Turkey giveaway. First-come, first-served.<\/p>\n Inter&Co Stadium at 655 W Church St, Orlando, FL 32805<\/p>\n Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n Free turkey with sides. It is first-come, first-served while supplies last.<\/p>\n Pendas Law Firm at 655 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL 32803<\/p>\n Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, at 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n Turkey giveaway.<\/p>\n Barnett Park Rec Center at 4801 W Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL 32808<\/p>\n Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Hundreds of Central Florida families found holiday relief Saturday as the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[575,1186,1335,11869,139,141,140,414,1189],"class_list":{"0":"post-48500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-food","9":"tag-holidays","10":"tag-orange-county","11":"tag-orange-county-sheriffs-office","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news","15":"tag-snap","16":"tag-thanksgiving"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}