November 20, 2025 • 6 mins
7,033 Turkeys! We are joined by Chris Palusky, CEO of Mel Trotter Ministries to celebrate a record-setting amount of turkeys collected this year!
You can still donate to the record-breaking number at TurkeyDrop.org.
You can still donate to the record-breaking number at TurkeyDrop.org.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was some pretty exciting stuff going on here in
West Michigan. We over the years have been a part
of this Turkey Drop for Meltrotter Ministries, and yesterday was
our twenty second annual and we were all over West
Michigan would drop off locations. The website turkeydrop dot org
is still live, so if you didn't get a chance
to contribute, you may do. So. We welcome back into
(00:23):
the conversation with the grand announcement this morning, the CEO
of Meltrotter Ministries, Chris Pulusky, thank you for getting up
early after such a long day yesterday.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Happy to do it, Happy to do it, kind of excited,
kind of excited.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We from seven to seven had drop off locations and
we've all got amazing stories about getting to meet people
that did some pretty remarkable things from one turkey, two
hundreds of them. I'm sure some of those stick out
for you from yesterday, Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, and fac. So the day started off kind of slow.
We weren't sure what was going to happen. We had
a goal of five thousand turkeys, and then you know,
midday things started to pick up and we're like, oh wow,
the community's coming out. You know, West Michigan is being
West Michigan. And so in the afternoon we upped our
goal and we thought, you know, could we do sixty
(01:19):
five hundred? Could we do six thousand, five hundred turkeys?
And so we all kind of sat around a table
and we scratched our heads and said, well, what's what's challenge?
What's challenge West Michigan. It was around that same time
you guys were broadcasting and you were talking about Grace
and just being part of the community this time of
the year, and so we decided to up to get
(01:40):
the goal to the sixty five hundred. And you know,
it was within fifteen minutes this this, this, this donor
came and said, you know, we were having a board
meeting and we were listening to radio and we heard
about Grace and the community, and we felt so moved
we wanted to bring a five thousand dollars check WHOA, Yeah,
(02:01):
it was amazing because of what was going on in
the radio and talking about Grace in the community and
wanting to be involved with that. They came out and
dropped that check off. So it was it was it
was an amazing afternoon. Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So after all of that and special thanks to our
title sponsor, Life VMS. We got MKD on board. You
order a real estate norm Ski Sham Harvest Health. It
was an amazing day yesterday. What was our total? Chris
Pulaski from Meltrotter Ministries.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So initially it was the five thousand, then we up
to it to the sixty five hundred. As of like
ten minutes ago, it was seven thousand and thirty three turkeys.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, oh, I'm doing the gi here in the
background the tiger was yeah, well, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
What's so funny too. This was the first time that
our producer Adam Rocho, who was shooting this video, was
a part of it as far as the nighttime, right,
he's been a part of it in the daytime with
his regular hours, and he said something to me this
morning that's so true and why it's one of our
favorite days. And even Chris, who was out there all day,
it's not hard to get up today. It's not hard.
(03:22):
I mean, you just want to hear that total. You
feel good. You got the energy from last night, and
thank you Wes Michigan. I hope other people feel that
because this is the holiday season. This is what It's
all about what Chris just shared with us. So thank you, Chris, thank.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You so much for everything. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
We had a great conversation last night. Quickly and West Michigan.
This is attributed to you. There is a different culture here. Yes,
people in other places don't get it because they don't
live here, and we are so lucky to and that's
why we work the way we do. Man oh Man,
I never get tired of seeing the giving hearts here.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
So I'm Matthew at Mel Trotter, who worked closely with us
through all of this kind of crunch the numbers. And
what was remarkable about yesterday's record we've never gotten that
many turkeys, is that we had more people actually show up.
There were more people that heard and then delivered as
opposed to just doing an online which was we thought
(04:17):
more convenient and cool. More people wanted to actually stop
by and help in the middle of the need. And
that was pretty special to report too.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It was great if I could jump in real quickly
with a quick story. There was one wonderful, wonderful moment.
There was a gentleman and he showed up with his
three kids, and this is around five o'clock and he
showed up with the three kids. They pulled up in
their car and the kids shoved out of the back
and they were so excited. They were doing dances and
(04:49):
they were getting the turkeys and they were putting them
in the turkey bin. And I said, thank you so much.
This is great. You know, we really appreciate you. And
it's wonderful to see that your kids are coming out
too and participating. Had actually two years ago my father said,
you know, you should get your kids involved. We should
all do this together. And then his father passed away.
(05:09):
He said, so last year we went out there and
we did the turkey drop, and this year we did
for every single one of our family members, so I
think it was a total of seven turkeys that they donated.
He said, this is going to be one of our things.
This is who we are, and we want to participate
every single year. And it was because of my father
and the guy out for like twenty minutes. He was
(05:30):
just excited to be part of something.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
And Chris, you saw yesterday and smittye you were mentioning
Ethan right, and his dad had dropped buying the Chris,
it's just his second year. Ethan was like four or
five years old. He's done fifteen, he's going to get
ready to drive. I'm like, holy, we didn't even recognize
somebody came in with his dad, and that's what we're
talking about. It's a tradition every year, and so thank you.
That just warms our heart for all the people who
(05:53):
took the time to come in and see us or
Chris or whoever that was greeting them when they stopped
buying the.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Curve unbelievable records seven thousand and thirty three Thanks to
all of you. Chris Puluski from Meltrodter Ministries Feeding America
West Michigan will now distribute thank you so much for
joining us again today. See you for your twenty three
next year.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Thank you
It was some pretty exciting stuff going on here in
West Michigan. We over the years have been a part
of this Turkey Drop for Meltrotter Ministries, and yesterday was
our twenty second annual and we were all over West
Michigan would drop off locations. The website turkeydrop dot org
is still live, so if you didn't get a chance
to contribute, you may do. So. We welcome back into
(00:23):
the conversation with the grand announcement this morning, the CEO
of Meltrotter Ministries, Chris Pulusky, thank you for getting up
early after such a long day yesterday.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Happy to do it, Happy to do it, kind of excited,
kind of excited.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We from seven to seven had drop off locations and
we've all got amazing stories about getting to meet people
that did some pretty remarkable things from one turkey, two
hundreds of them. I'm sure some of those stick out
for you from yesterday, Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, and fac. So the day started off kind of slow.
We weren't sure what was going to happen. We had
a goal of five thousand turkeys, and then you know,
midday things started to pick up and we're like, oh wow,
the community's coming out. You know, West Michigan is being
West Michigan. And so in the afternoon we upped our
goal and we thought, you know, could we do sixty
(01:19):
five hundred? Could we do six thousand, five hundred turkeys?
And so we all kind of sat around a table
and we scratched our heads and said, well, what's what's challenge?
What's challenge West Michigan. It was around that same time
you guys were broadcasting and you were talking about Grace
and just being part of the community this time of
the year, and so we decided to up to get
(01:40):
the goal to the sixty five hundred. And you know,
it was within fifteen minutes this this, this, this donor
came and said, you know, we were having a board
meeting and we were listening to radio and we heard
about Grace and the community, and we felt so moved
we wanted to bring a five thousand dollars check WHOA, Yeah,
(02:01):
it was amazing because of what was going on in
the radio and talking about Grace in the community and
wanting to be involved with that. They came out and
dropped that check off. So it was it was it
was an amazing afternoon. Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So after all of that and special thanks to our
title sponsor, Life VMS. We got MKD on board. You
order a real estate norm Ski Sham Harvest Health. It
was an amazing day yesterday. What was our total? Chris
Pulaski from Meltrotter Ministries.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So initially it was the five thousand, then we up
to it to the sixty five hundred. As of like
ten minutes ago, it was seven thousand and thirty three turkeys.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, oh, I'm doing the gi here in the
background the tiger was yeah, well, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
What's so funny too. This was the first time that
our producer Adam Rocho, who was shooting this video, was
a part of it as far as the nighttime, right,
he's been a part of it in the daytime with
his regular hours, and he said something to me this
morning that's so true and why it's one of our
favorite days. And even Chris, who was out there all day,
it's not hard to get up today. It's not hard.
(03:22):
I mean, you just want to hear that total. You
feel good. You got the energy from last night, and
thank you Wes Michigan. I hope other people feel that
because this is the holiday season. This is what It's
all about what Chris just shared with us. So thank you, Chris, thank.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You so much for everything. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
We had a great conversation last night. Quickly and West Michigan.
This is attributed to you. There is a different culture here. Yes,
people in other places don't get it because they don't
live here, and we are so lucky to and that's
why we work the way we do. Man oh Man,
I never get tired of seeing the giving hearts here.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
So I'm Matthew at Mel Trotter, who worked closely with us
through all of this kind of crunch the numbers. And
what was remarkable about yesterday's record we've never gotten that
many turkeys, is that we had more people actually show up.
There were more people that heard and then delivered as
opposed to just doing an online which was we thought
(04:17):
more convenient and cool. More people wanted to actually stop
by and help in the middle of the need. And
that was pretty special to report too.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It was great if I could jump in real quickly
with a quick story. There was one wonderful, wonderful moment.
There was a gentleman and he showed up with his
three kids, and this is around five o'clock and he
showed up with the three kids. They pulled up in
their car and the kids shoved out of the back
and they were so excited. They were doing dances and
(04:49):
they were getting the turkeys and they were putting them
in the turkey bin. And I said, thank you so much.
This is great. You know, we really appreciate you. And
it's wonderful to see that your kids are coming out
too and participating. Had actually two years ago my father said,
you know, you should get your kids involved. We should
all do this together. And then his father passed away.
(05:09):
He said, so last year we went out there and
we did the turkey drop, and this year we did
for every single one of our family members, so I
think it was a total of seven turkeys that they donated.
He said, this is going to be one of our things.
This is who we are, and we want to participate
every single year. And it was because of my father
and the guy out for like twenty minutes. He was
(05:30):
just excited to be part of something.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
And Chris, you saw yesterday and smittye you were mentioning
Ethan right, and his dad had dropped buying the Chris,
it's just his second year. Ethan was like four or
five years old. He's done fifteen, he's going to get
ready to drive. I'm like, holy, we didn't even recognize
somebody came in with his dad, and that's what we're
talking about. It's a tradition every year, and so thank you.
That just warms our heart for all the people who
(05:53):
took the time to come in and see us or
Chris or whoever that was greeting them when they stopped
buying the.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Curve unbelievable records seven thousand and thirty three Thanks to
all of you. Chris Puluski from Meltrodter Ministries Feeding America
West Michigan will now distribute thank you so much for
joining us again today. See you for your twenty three
next year.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Thank you
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