Manna, the Conejo Valley food bank, needs to collect food for at least 1,000 turkey dinners this year to feed enough families on Thanksgiving Day.

"This is a wonderful and challenging time of year," said Manna director John Gorham.

The food shelves are staying full, although there's been an increase in demand this year, Gorham said. "We have more and more middle class (people) coming in asking for help than ever before."

He hopes that Albertsons supermarket's buy-one-turkey, getonefree promotion will entice some shoppers to give their extra turkey to Manna. Gorham said other stores also have turkeys on sale and hopes that those who can will buy one or two extra birds and donate them to the food bank. Manna serves people in and around Conejo Valley, from Calabasas to Camarillo, he said.

"We need all the holiday foods," Gorham said.

Yams, stuffing, boxed potatoes, cranberry sauce, fruits, vegetables and all the fixings for green bean casserole—cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions—are on the list.

"We've already had about 1,000 requests so far this year. We need those who are already digging to help us to dig deeper," Gorham said.

A recording that's played in Albertsons stores encourages customers to make a donation to the "local food bank" at checkout may be somewhat misleading. Those donations will go to FOOD Share of Ventura County in Oxnard, not Manna, said Lilia Rodriguez, Albertsons' public affairs manager.

Gorham doesn't want anyone hungry to go without, especially children, he said.

"These are tough economic times, but we always try to take care of everyone who comes to us," he said. Clubs, churches, individuals and youth organizations could make a big difference by holding holiday drives to collect Thanksgiving dinner ingredients. See page 23 about another effort that helps Manna. Those who'd like to volunteer or donate to Manna at 3020 Crescent Way, south of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, can call (805) 497-4959.