Navy veteran helps Seattle's Union Gospel Mission feed homeless on Thanksgiving

A Navy veteran from Kenmore is helping Seattle's Union Gospel Mission feed the homeless on Thanksgiving.

"All these Facebook posts started coming in, (saying,) ‘Thank you for your service,' and I thought, 'Well, gosh, you want to thank me for my service or anybody else , give me 10 bucks for a turkey," Heidi McDaniel said.

Last week on Veteran's Day, she posted a picture of herself in uniform and called for people to put their money where their mouth is. In just 12 hours, she raised $1,400. But she didn't stop there.
Today, she presented the Seattle's Union Gospel Mission with a check for $2,000.

The money will help the mission meet its goal of 1,200 turkeys by Thanksgiving.

Right now, Norm Hummel says the mission is about halfway there.

"There's such a joy inside me knowing that there's that an amount of people that care," Hummel said.

McDaniel said her father, a Vietnam War vet, is her inspiration.

"There's people like him that are homeless on the street. I just want to feed them," McDaniel said.

With McDaniel's donation, Hummel thinks he can buy about 100 turkeys.

The mission still needs 600 more turkeys to make its goal.

The turkeys will feed 1,500 people at all three of its shelters in the area and also be placed into baskets for needy families.

The mission said people can donate turkeys to one of its three drop-off locations:
Pioneer Square on Second Avenue
The Kent Distribution Center on 208th Street
Hope Place Women's Recovery Shelter on Othello Street

Cox Media Group