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Elaine Jarvik Deseret News staff writer

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It's still dark outside, hours before dawn even, when the first people start lining up. They've come to get a free turkey -- and they've heard that last year there were more hungry people in line than turkeys to be given away.

In the frigid early light Wednesday, the line grows. By 10, an hour after the doors of the Indian Walk-in Center have opened, the line is moving quickly but still stretches around three sides of the building.

In the middle of the line -- in view of a tantalizing Norbest billboard picturing a perfect bird on a bed of parsley -- stands Heidi.

Health problems have forced Heidi to take a leave of absence from her work as a job coach for the developmentally disabled, so here it is holiday time and bills are starting to pile up. She's grateful, she says, that the Crossroads Urban Center and the Utah Food Bank are giving away turkey dinners, because now she'll be able to fix a nice meal for her family on Thanksgiving.

"It's hard to call your family together for a browned carrot" she says.

In back of Heidi is Loc Nguyen, who came to Salt Lake City from Vietnam nine years ago. He works in a Vietnamese supermarket and has a wife and four children. In back of Nguyen is a Russian man, and behind him some Sudanese, and near them is a woman who is 50 but looks 70. She is taking her turkey and frozen mashed potatoes home to feed her four grandchildren because her daughter is in prison.

The line is a democratic place, full of people whose luck has long ago turned or has just turned last week.

"What I always ask people is, 'How many paychecks from this are you?"' says Tim Shultz.

Shultz, director of Crossroads Urban Center's food pantry, is sitting inside the Indian Walk-In Center, surveying the lines and the tables full of turkeys.

For the most part, he says, the people in line aren't the truly destitute. They have places to live and families to live with, but they're often just scraping by, trapped by "an outdated living wage," rising utility and medical costs and a lack of affordable housing.

Shultz likes the Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, but if he had his way he'd do something else. "It's inherently a humiliating experience," he says. "My dream alternative would be to get food stamps up to par to meet the basic survival needs of people."

Turkey giveaways are nice but inefficient and inadequate, he says

"People who are working can't get here. Neither can the disabled. Or people who don't have transportation. And everyone gets one turkey, whether they have a family of 10 or a family of two."

And that's not all, says Shultz. "My big fear is that events like this act as a moral safety valve. People think, 'Something's being done."' And that draws their attention away, he says, from the problems that still need fixing.

You do not need to prove your need to get a turkey in the Crossroads Urban Center giveaway. Although a sign asks for a picture ID and warns that "absolutely no social security cards accepted," in truth the scrutiny is largely a formality. The reasons are partly logistical and partly philosophical, "Opportunities like this consist of the bottom of the safety net" Shultz explains. "We have to ask ourselves, is it worse to serve someone who doesn't necessarily deserve it or to deny someone food who really needs it?"

The Salvation Army operates under the same philosophy. Its mid morning Thanksgiving Day dinner -- a turkey dinner with all the trimmings -- is served to anyone who shows up, no proof of need required.

This year with the help of Harmon's supermarkets and private donations, Crossroads and the Utah Food Bank provided 3,400 turkeys for their giveaway -- more than enough for the people who stood in line.

But Christmas is coming, the people at Crossroads are quick to remind. And, after that a long stretch of time when donations drop off, but people are still hungry. Since last winter, Shultz says, Crossroads food pantry has seen a 40 percent increase in people needing food.

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