SAN ANTONIO – This week, thousands of turkeys have been seasoned, basted, roasted and smoked. But perhaps no one locally is deep frying more birds than Les Thomsen and his team at Noah’s Farm.
His massive custom-made fryers have been going for days, and the impact from his delicious turkeys will continue way after Thanksgiving. The impressive operation is tucked behind the Alzafar Shrine Auditorium on the North Side, with plenty of turkeys, volunteers and peanut oil.
Thomsen runs this unit and has watched it grow for almost two decades.
“We feel like we’re doing God’s work, but also, we have so many people that help us,” Thomsen said. “So, it’s not just like our idea or anything like that. People have come along and believe in it.”
For years, Thomsen has been using the proceeds from the sale of his turkeys to build water wells in Zimbabwe. This year, he’s also helping to fund the opening of a brand-new high school in the African country, set to begin classes next January.
“In Zimbabwe, if your kid wants to go to school, you have to pay. Even a government school, all schools, the parents have to pay, and with 80% unemployment, it’s a little tough to raise the money to put your kid in school,” Thomsen said.
KSAT was there Wednesday morning when the last of 150 fried turkeys were loaded into a minivan, headed for Brooke Army Medical Center and the Soldier Recovery Unit, or SRU, at JBSA Fort Sam Houston.
“They bring together these turkeys, from what I heard these delicious fried turkeys, and we take it back to the SRU,” said Sgt. 1st Class Weston Yashida of the U.S. Army. “We’ll go ahead and we’ll meet up with these soldiers, and we’ll provide the turkeys for these soldiers that are able to enjoy Thanksgiving.”
Dozens of additional fried turkeys were also sponsored by community members and are being provided to local military nonprofits to help feed veterans who are homeless or have disabilities.
“All I can say is thank you to the community for doing this,” Yashida said. “I hope that the community realizes by doing this for our soldiers in recovery that it absolutely means the world to them.”
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