Greater Derry Track Club - Turkey Trot

THE CAUSE

The original reason for the creation of the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot was help the less fortunate in the area.

They decided one possible way to do this was to have a road race, collect food donations and give those food donations to the local food pantries. Their idea was the creation of the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot.

This still continues to be the only reason for the event today and that is to help the needy in the Greater Derry-Londonderry area. For many years the only entry fee to participant was a non-perishable food donation and all of the expenses were covered by the Greater Derry Track Club. As expenses continued to rise and the loss of the sponsor that helped defray the cost of the Tee shirts, a very difficult decision was made a few years ago by the Greater Derry Track Club and that was to charge a entry fee.

The club still wanted to show its appreciation to all of the participants by offering a high quality Tee Shirt but needed to defray those costs. In addition with the increase in the size of the race this forced the town to require that we have police coverage. The club decided to charge a small fee while still requiring a food donation. The club would still cover many expenses.

The club was very worried how this would be received. It was an unexpected huge success. The numbers increased and the amount of non-perishable donations increased.

In addition after the expenses are paid all of the money left over is given to the local food pantries to allow them to buy perishables such as milk and bread for the needy. It has been a totally win-win situation for everyone and the club believes it has greatly underestimated the generosity of the participants.

We are giving over a thousand pounds of non-perishable food while also donating over $1000 to the food pantries for them to purchase perishable items.

The present approach allows the club and Parks and Recreation department to put on a high quality event, show our appreciation to the participants with the high quality tee shirt while still not forgetting the original intent to help the needy which we are doing in record numbers.

The Greater Derry Track Club and Derry Parks and Recreation Department can only express our sincere thanks to you the participants. We also want to pass on to you the sincere thanks that we receive from the food pantries when we make the donations.