Shevrin Jones and Ashley Gantt are giving away 500 free turkeys in Miami

For months — before any signs the federal government was shutting down — South Florida organizers began planning an early Thanksgiving free turkey giveaway for 500 people.

By pure coincidence, the timing of the Saturday, Nov. 8, event comes as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients worry about how to pay for groceries and federal employees are without paychecks. 

Anyone can show up 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Greater Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church at 2601 Northwest 65th St. in Miami. The drive-thru first come, first serve food drive will give people a free turkey as well as other food courtesy of the nonprofit Farm Share.

The event is sponsored by Sen. Shevrin Jones and Rep. Ashley Gantt, two Miami-Dade Democrats.

All across Florida, local leaders and nonprofits are bracing for food shortages as people come on desperate times.

The Associated Press is reporting that President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing back on a Judge’s order requiring officials to distribute November’s full monthly SNAP food benefits during the U.S. government shutdown that is now stretching into the second month.

Nearly 3 million Floridians, including senior citizens, veterans and families with children, receive SNAP.

“I’m a little scared, I’ll be honest … I’m not calling on people to make donations of food. I’m asking you to run a food drive,” said Eric Gray, the Executive Director at Orlando’s Christian Service Center for the Homeless at an Orange County press conference days before Halloween.

“This is one of those times. This isn’t good enough to just say we need a can of food that you bring to work. We need every business in the community, we need every church, every mosque, every temple, every Little League baseball team, every neighborhood association, and every Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop to be organizing food drives right now this weekend. That’s the kind of sense of enormity that we’re feeling right now.”