Kassandra Goodin’s father was on the job July 16 when a 4-by-6-inch wooden beam dropped more than 190 feet from a building and hit the back of his head, paralyzing him.

With dad at home unable to work, income dropped. The cash-strapped family was looking at going without Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. But when Kassandra heard about some crazy people willing to give away 500 turkeys and the fixings for free, she made her way to the Top Foods parking lot early Saturday morning for something called Auburn’s Big Give.

And it was all true.

Inspired by a suggestion from Northwest Family Church Student Ministries Pastor Thad Huff, Top Foods Store Manager Kevin Oehler and generous vendors provided 500 honest-to-goodness turkeys, along with a bag full of onions, potatoes, stuffings, corn, beans and bread to people who needed them.

Kassandra was flabbergasted.

“This means a lot to my family,” Kassandra said, wheeling away a cart stuffed with frozen fowl and fixings. “My five brothers and sisters, my mom, my grandparents and my boyfriend will be at the table. Thanksgiving will be nice.”

Coordinating Auburn’s Big Give were Northwest Family Church, Top Foods and the Auburn Food Bank. The church found corporate donations to cover the expenses. All finances and food that could not be given away went to the food bank.

More than 80 church volunteers handed out the birds and bags, wished the recipients a “happy Thanksgiving,” and helped load up the feasts-to-be into waiting cars.

Fretting that the food would run out quickly, a few people showed up at the parking lot along Auburn Way North at 5:30 a.m. Apparently, one or two had even asked Oehler if they could camp out overnight.

Some came because of medical setbacks that had laid waste to family fortunes, others were on strike, and many had lost their jobs in a struggling economy.

Lorie Pipkin said that with her partner disabled and she herself having to work a part-time job, there isn’t much money coming in.

“This is going to mean that we can actually have a turkey, because we wouldn’t be able to afford one otherwise,” Pipkin said. “We have about one dollar left in our household. This is a surprise to us, a very nice surprise.”

Life has not been easy for Randy and Rebecca Staples since both were laid off a year ago. Randy, a heavy equipment operator for 21 years, is permanently disabled. Two months ago he underwent his sixth back surgery.

“This means that we will have a Thanksgiving dinner that we probably wouldn’t be able to have,” Rebecca said. “It would have been, well, whatever pieces we had in the freezer, and hopefully that would have been good enough. Now we can have some of our family here with us.”

Kari, who declined to give her last name, said it means everything.

“My husband just got out of the hospital two days ago, and our whole family has been in turmoil,” Kari said. “The people in front of us in line, her husband is out of a job because of the labor strikes right now. Things like that happen when you least expect them to. And to have a church come out and do something like this, it makes us feel like there is some source of normalcy and community. It brings tears to my eyes. The people who did this deserve awesome silver crowns on their heads.”

Tammy Bragg, with daughter Talya, 4, sons Raymond, 2, and Maverick, 1, in tow and another baby on the way, called it a miracle.

“God is still around,” Bragg said. “Jesus walks the earth, love spreads, and there are good Samaritans who love to help people. It’s a blessing that there is still love out here, despite the things that go on this world right now.”

Debbie Christian, Auburn Food Bank director and herself a member of Northwest Family Church, explained how it all came to be.

“Pastor Huff came to our church from a church in Issaquah 2½ years ago. He tried this up there, and it was a pretty big success. One day he thought, let’s see how it will go in Auburn. And it’s been a big success,” Christian said. “Five-hundred giveaways is our hope, and I think we are going to do it. We have enough turkeys and supplies not only to supply everybody who would show up with a need today in Auburn but to help supply the Auburn Food Bank for Christmas. And we have a planned distribution later this week.”

More than 350 turkeys were given away.

“There have been a lot of tears, and people are very thankful,” Huff said. “They can’t believe it’s really free. There were men saying, ‘Thank you,’ ‘God bless you,” and ‘Are you sure?’ That’s the big question, ‘Are you sure?’ and, “What do I have to do?’

“One woman said she hadn’t had a Thanksgiving meal in 20 years, which is hard to fathom.”