UPDATED Wednesday Nov. 30

Several community groups served Thanksgiving dinners last week to their neighbors, with help coming from a variety of companies and individuals. In addition, hundreds of people received the makings for a Thanksgiving feast, with most of the food donated by community members hoping to offer a hand up to those in need.

Last week, more than 600 people attended a community Thanksgiving dinner at the Newhall Community Center, sponsored by Parkway Motors in Valencia and the City of Santa Clarita.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered right to your inbox

Tuesday night, the gymnasium at Sierra Vista Junior High School was packed as members of the SCV Boys and Girls Club celebrated the holiday, with dinner provided by Salt Creek Grille and hospitality by members of Alex Urbina’s Teen Leadership Group. Club families enjoyed a meal together sponsored by the Santa Clarita Auto Dealers, Facey Medical, Hacker/Braly, KHTS and Joe Messina. Each family also received a turkey for their holiday dinner

Earlier in the week, dinner was served at the club’s Newhall location. See pictures from the Club dinners here.

Additional turkeys were sent to the club’s Val Verde satellite for distribution to families in that area.

At the SCV Food Pantry Tuesday, nearly 400 families lined the sidewalks of Railroad Avenue and 5th Street in Newhall as members of the Santa Clarita Rotary and the Caso family of Frontier Toyota began to unload and distribute the turkeys they donated for the annual Turkey Giveaway.

One hundred 20-pound turkeys were delivered Monday by Frontier Toyota trucks with the remaining turkeys 300 delivered by the SC Rotary Tuesday morning prior to the distribution.

Families waited patiently as SCV Food Pantry volunteers gave them Boxes of Love for larger families donated by Valencia Hills Community Church and local Girl Scout troops or bags of side dishes prepared by Pantry volunteers to complement their Thanksgiving turkey.

“I try to get here every two weeks. The Food Pantry really helps me, my wife and three children until I can return to work. All the workers here are the best. They are so nice,”  said a Pantry client from Saugus named Paul.

Turkeys donated by the Valencia Water Company and clients of Rod McIntosh Realty are also being distributed this holiday season to clients of the SCV Food Pantry.

“Our clients were so excited to learn that they would receive a turkey again this Thanksgiving.  It’s been such a tough year for so many of them.  More and more families are struggling just to put food on their tables.” said Belinda Crawford, executive director of the pantry.