(This post has been updated)

The Service Action Leadership Team did not give Thanksgiving meals to local families through Turkeys for Taylor because of low budget and lack of a faculty sponsor.

Jason Lo, junior youth and family ministry major from Hong Kong, is part of the leadership team of SALT and said along with not having a faculty sponsor, the group’s budget was not enough to cover expenses to do Turkeys for Taylor.

“We are caught with our hands tied,” Lo said.

The annual Turkeys for Taylor project, run by SALT, was created to provide Thanksgiving meals to families of Taylor Elementary School through sponsorships and donations.

Mary Beth Cuevas, academic advisor, said in an email that SALT last year SALT served about 70-80 families through the Turkeys for Taylor program.

Lo said the leadership team of SALT estimated that around 90 families will be affected this year by not being able to do the program. Chris Blackmon, community coordinator for Taylor Elementary, estimated 50 families were affected by the cancelled program this year. She said even some of the lower paid aides at Taylor Elementary had benefitted from the meals, not just the families of students.

“We don’t want them to feel like they are less than anyone else,” Blackmon said, “We just try to make a better life for our students and our faculty.”

Blackmon said she plans to do something for the families for Christmas. Lo said SALT will continue to try to find a faculty sponsor.