Church Works with Food Bank of Alaska to Bring 'Thanksgiving Blessing'

“It’s the biggest event of the year,” said Daniel Bentle, chief philanthropy officer of the Food Bank of Alaska.

They came in hopes of a Thanksgiving meal. Families stood in line — many with small children — braving below-freezing temperatures, even though the doors of the Real Life Church in Palmer, Alaska, would not open for another two and a half hours, on Saturday morning, November 22, 2025.

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Food for Thought

Nearly 15% of Alaskans struggle with food insecurity. That’s around 106,000 people out of a population of 700,000.

To help meet this need, the Food Bank of Alaska (FBA) organized Thanksgiving Blessing. “We’ve got 11 different sites between Anchorage and the [Matanuska and Susitna] Valley and Eagle River,” said Bentle.

The two-day event provides the makings for 12,000 Thanksgiving dinners, including butter from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a delicacy that can cost up to US$10.00 a pound in a state with only one dairy.

“Having dairy brought into the state and the support that we’ve gotten from [the Church] is incredible,” added Bentle.

Krystal Poole and her four children were among the first families to experience the walkthrough-style distribution setup in Palmer, which offered canned goods, potatoes, stuffing mix, biscuit mix, pies, and a frozen turkey, among other items, which were available at all distribution sites.

“Being a single mom with all my children here, working full time, it’s still hard,” said Poole. “Food costs are really high right now, and when it comes to Thanksgiving, you still want to provide that good meal for your family, [which] is definitely a blessing.”

“This is a blessing,” said Jessica Betham, who came to the Thanksgiving Blessing distribution at the Church of Jesus Christ meetinghouse in Anchorage, Alaska. “I don’t know what I would do. My two youngest [children] have kidney disease. I’m not able to make as much [money] as I would like because I have to work from home. So, this helps me tons.”

Volunteers

The annual event would not happen without hundreds of volunteers like Helen Maea, who has served since her son was a baby 12 years ago.

“It helps me feel like I’m doing good back to the people that helped me. I feel like this is the way to do it,” said Maea. “I wanted to change my life off the street — being homeless, struggling and just going down the wrong path — and getting to know God better, it helped change my life around.”

Harper Montgomery is enjoying a rare trip home, on break from school on the East Coast. Her time with family is precious, but it’s also important to Montgomery to serve her neighbors.

“I just love seeing the smiles on all the family’s faces, and it honestly makes me feel like I’m doing … a good thing. I just really like doing it,” she said.

Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints served at several Thanksgiving Blessing sites. Elder Heaton, from Nevada, said, “There are all sorts of different types of backgrounds here. And it really shows to me that we are all children of God, and we can all use a little more help and a little more love.”

Volunteers are from all walks of life and denominations, working shoulder to shoulder, who ensure every patron is treated with dignity.

“I like the fact that they make you feel like you’re not getting a handout,” said Betham. “It’s warm, and it’s welcoming, and it’s kind of, ‘We’re here to help.’”

“How grateful we are for those who will come and participate,” said Jeff Taylor, president of the Wasilla Alaska Stake (a group of congregations) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “If we didn’t have people that we could serve, it would be a lonely world.”

A Collaborative Effort

The massive endeavor takes months of planning and collaboration by dozens of businesses and interfaith organizations.

The Church of Jesus Christ is part of that collaboration. “[The Church] has stepped in to just provide shipment after shipment after shipment of support,” said Bentle.

In Tacoma, Washington, TOTE Maritime Alaska provided free shipping by sea for the Church’s 40,000-pound container of butter and cheese on its final leg to Anchorage.

“TOTE sponsors 40 containers a year from the lower 48 [states],” said Frank Kelly, chief operating officer for Food Bank of Alaska. “From the Port of Tacoma to the Port of Alaska here in Anchorage.”

Larry Green, manager for Welfare and Self-Reliance Services, who helps organize the Church’s efforts with FBA, said he’s grateful for the “kindness and generosity” demonstrated by TOTE. “To be able to plug into that was phenomenal. Because otherwise these truckload donations would just be to the [lower 48 states].”

Other Projects and the Future

While Thanksgiving is one of the greatest needs of the year, it’s not the only need FBA meets with help from organizations like the Church of Jesus Christ.

In October, the Church donated semitruckloads of food from its Bishops’ Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City to help with several other challenges in Alaska.

“This year, of course, is a unique beast. We’ve had the response effort for Typhoon Halong in Western Alaska,” recalled Bentle. “We’ve had the impacts of the government shutdown that we’ve just been working against over the last several weeks.”

The Church plans further collaboration with FBA in the future.

“That collaboration has been wonderful, that listening ear, that desire to help, has been fantastic with us,” said Kelly. “The support that the Church has given the Food Bank of Alaska really allows us to fulfill our mission in ways that we wouldn’t be able to do so otherwise. It’s greatly appreciated.”