Alexxa Oliver wasn’t going to let a thief keep her from feeding hundreds of hungry families this Thanksgiving.
Members of the nonprofit U.R. Important Foundation were sorting food Saturday morning in the 31000 block of Auto Center Drive in Lake Elsinore when someone took off with a box truck containing more than 500 frozen birds the nonprofit was intending to distribute later that day, Oliver said.
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies responded to the location at 7:52 a.m. and searched the area but could not find the truck, said department spokesman Sgt. Robert Martinez.
“I was determined to make sure that those families who already registered for turkeys and the pantries and churches who signed up as well would receive their turkeys this year,” said Oliver, founder of the nonprofit.
The truck contained 475 frozen turkeys and 61 vegan turkeys — a seemingly insurmountable number of birds to replace with Thanksgiving less than a week away.
But Oliver was undeterred.
The U.R. Important Foundation, based in Lake Elsinore, was founded in 2009 with a mission to support military families and others in need. The turkey giveaway is one of the group’s signature programs, according to its website.
Oliver immediately set out to grocery stores in the area to start buying turkeys. And with some help from generous community members, she said, the foundation was able to replace all the Thanksgiving birds that had been stolen.
The foundation is expected to hand out the last of the turkeys on Wednesday, just in time for the holiday. She credits the Thanksgiving miracle to a generous community that stepped up for others at a time when many are struggling.
“It helps you to still have hope in people,” she said. “Even though what happened with the theft was not good, obviously, good prevails.”