Oceanside turkey shoot delivers a hearty holiday

No tradition in the Oceanside School District is more beloved than the annual high school Turkey Shoot. For 37 years, OHS students have partnered with Oceanside Community Service to collect, package, and deliver Thanksgiving fixings to hundreds of struggling families.

All 10 of Oceanside’s schools participated by donating boxes of stuffing, cans of candied yams, and other holiday staples, including frozen turkeys. Oceanside Community Service rounded up all of the donations and transported them to the high school.

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, student government members engaged in a frenzied but efficient packing effort in the high school cafeteria. On Tuesday morning, students and staff gathered in the high school lobby to wrap all of the baskets in colorful cellophane, attach bows, and add Thanksgiving cards, many of which were handmade by Art Honor Society students.

Students and staff then loaded everything into the cars of volunteer drivers to complete the deliveries.

The Oceanside High School Turkey Shoot has delivered approximately 5,500 holiday meals, adding up to more than 100,000 pounds of food since 1986. This year, they packed baskets for about 115 families.

The identities of the families are kept anonymous to preserve their privacy. Estimates are based on an average of 150 families served per year; the number fluctuates but data has not been stored on exact numbers for each year.