By Craig Anderson

FELTON — The price of turkey, along with many other foods, has reworked holiday traditions for Chris Collins.

The 68-year old and his partner, residents of Felton, travel a few miles north to receive their Thanksgiving dinners at Calvary Church in Dover.

“We can’t afford to buy it ourselves because the price of turkey has gone up so much,” Mr. Collins said, adding that monthly visits to the Lake Forest Church Association Food Pantry in Harrington also help.

“The price of everything has gone up so high, and money is so tight that you can’t afford to buy it,” he added.

Mr. Collins said his partner receives a small amount of federal food benefits, covering about two weeks of groceries a month.

But, “after that, everything else we buy is a challenge because money is so tight,” he said.

“If you don’t have meals, you go hungry, and hunger is a bad thing because there are so many people who are hungry, and the government isn’t helping us.”

Mr. Collins said he and his partner have “mostly white meats, chicken, vegetables and salads to eat and juices to drink.”

However, “we have to cut back quite a bit on our diet because we just don’t have the money to buy more,” he said.

The 10-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who works part time, said he believes that “there’s a lot of older people who are having to go back working because they just don’t have enough to pay for groceries.”

And the inexpensive food they buy “has lost a lot of nutrition and protein in it and (has) increased additives,” he added.

“You have to watch what you eat, and there’s gotten to be a lot of junk food for kids, too. My granddaughter comes (here), and we really have to watch what she’s eating.”