SLIPPERY ROCK — With Thanksgiving on the way, most families are gearing up for a large meal.

However, not everyone is so fortunate to be able to have such a feast.

In the Slippery Rock area, less fortunate families who are clients at the Feed My Sheep Food Pantry get help every year to make sure that they have a good, homey dinner.

Pantry coordinator Carol Lambert said, in addition to monthly food distribution, the pantry gives out extra food for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

For Thanksgiving, volunteers hand out turkey, potatoes, vegetables, pumpkin, pie crusts and other goodies.

“Everything that they need for a nice Thanksgiving meal,” Lambert said.

For the extra food giveaway, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank donated fresh produce.

Giant Eagle donated 35 of the 200 turkeys that the pantry buys. The store also donated some turkey breasts and chickens, which are intended for single people who do not want to make an entire turkey.

The pantry also had to get 18 cases of canned vegetables, and had to get items that only get distributed around Thanksgiving, such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes, pie crusts and evaporated milk.

Three different groups at Slippery Rock University donated food. Churches also regularly donate to the pantry, and the Boy Scouts host food drives for it.

The pantry also gets donations from generous area residents.

“This is just the most wonderful town to live in,” Lambert said.

The pantry used to give out bags of food, but renovations to the building in 2012 changed the distribution to a shop-through format, with clients picking out their own food. This is a good thing, Lambert said.

“They will have some choice,” Lambert said.

Clients are told ahead of time to be conscientious of what they want, to only take things that they actually will cook and eat.

The extra holiday food distribution requires extra volunteers.

On Nov. 20, 25 volunteers unloaded 13,000 pounds of food meant for the holiday distribution.

“They were just absolutely wonderful,” Lambert said.

The pantry handed out food to clients on Monday and Tuesday.

She said that there were 20 volunteers each day. On normal pantry days, there usually are about a dozen volunteers.

These days, the pantry has about 500 regular clients. In 2003, the pantry served 150 clients.

“They come in and say, ‘We don’t know what we would do without you,’” Lambert said.

The pantry was founded in Harrisville in 1982. It has been at its current location in Slippery Rock Park since 1990.