TurkeyPalooza Food Drive Helps Provide a Thanksgiving Meal to Individuals, Families in Need

11/25/2025

TurkeyPalooza, the annual Campus Kitchen food drive and Thanksgiving food prep event, resulted in 200 individual Thanksgiving meals and 40 meal-prep boxes for families in the St. Louis community.

TurkeyPalooza is SLU’s annual Thanksgiving food drive. Led by Campus Kitchen, a student-run organization that works to decrease food insecurity and waste in the communities surrounding SLU, the drive collects holiday food items that will be distributed to the St. Louis community.

Donations for TurkeyPalooza were collected between Nov. 17-20, at Reinert Hall. Teams of volunteers made the meals Nov. 22-23 and distributed them to the community on Monday, Nov. 24. 

Co-presidents and SLU students Kailah Crafford and senior Path Patel expressed gratitude to the SLU community for their contributions to TurkeyPalooza. 

“Thank you to all students, faculty and staff who volunteered and donated food to make this event possible,” Crafford said. 

Campus Kitchen has been addressing food justice issues by reducing food waste and providing meals to those who are hungry since 2001. Using donated food that would otherwise be wasted, volunteers — mainly SLU students, staff and faculty — prepare, package and deliver meals to people who are food insecure. These are men, women, children and seniors who live independently in homes across the street from our SLU campus, as well as those who live in nearby emergency shelters and transitional housing.

n addition to meals, Campus Kitchen provides excess fresh produce to various nonprofit organizations. The efforts of Campus Kitchen volunteers feed about 600 individuals each week.