By this time last year, the Denver Rescue Mission already had secured more than 4,000 turkeys toward its 6,000-turkey goal in preparation for Thanksgiving.

This year, 12 days into the annual turkey drive, only 212 have been donated. It’s not unusual for turkey donations to lag and the mission to sound the alarm, but this year has proved more dire than usual.

“It has never been this low,” said Greta Walker, spokeswoman for the Denver Rescue Mission. “Right now, we’re underbudget for our holiday months, and demand for our services is up every day.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Rescue Mission reported it had not received a single turkey donation, but by the next day, 212 turkeys were dropped off at the downtown shelter.

“We feel the community is stepping up,” Walker said. “We hope as we get closer to the holidays and people look for a place to donate their time or money, they think of us.

“Every turkey donation does matter,” she said.

The Denver Rescue Mission uses the turkeys to feed about 1,000 people every year on Thanksgiving and to hand out more than 1,000 Thanksgiving Banquet-in-a-Box food boxes the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

The Denver Rescue Mission also shares its frozen-bird donations with other local organizations. Already, turkey requests total 5,000 from organizations such as Jewish Family Service, Agape Christian Church and Mean Street Ministry.

“One of the things we’ve always done is work with the Denver Rescue Mission because we are in the neighborhood,” said Bob Woolfolk, pastor at Denver’s Agape Christian Church. “We help poor people in the same way they do.”

Woolfolk said Agape usually receives about 100 turkeys from the mission to give away to families that come through the church’s food bank.

This year, Volunteers of America also will hand out turkeys in its Thanksgiving baskets, most of which were requested from the mission.

“These programs are extremely important,” Walker said. “We can’t do it without the support of the community.”

For more information, go to denverrescuemission.org or call 303-297-1815.

Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com