By Irene Gudmundson

November 11, 2006- Twenty pounds of turkey flew threw the rain Saturday morning for a wild Turkey Toss that ended with over 300 pounds in food donations to the Cache Valley Food Pantry.

Spencer Johnson, a senior majoring in finance who organized the Turkey Toss, said the turnout was great.

"We had one guy who didn't bring cans of food or money to enter so he went door to door and got three cans of food so he could throw a turkey," said Johnson.

That dedicated turkey tosser, Dustin Benson, threw a 20 pound turkey 29 feet 5 inches. The announcer told the crowd that Benson was a champion hay baler. He left after his toss and told organizers he was going to get some more cans of food and come back. He won the overall toss with his first throw.

Three turkeys weighing 20, 15 and 3 pounds each, were chosen to be thrown by men, women and children. Johnson added that if the turkeys held up well, they hoped to give them to the pantry with the rest of the donations. The toss was part of a group project for a required class, MHR 3110, for all College of Business majors.

Through the class, juniors and seniors learn leadership and management skills as well as get real world experience. They work in groups on one big project each semester explained Johnson.

"We thought with it being the holiday season we could do a project that would help out some needy families," he said.

The idea of a turkey toss came from Tanner Purser during one of the early meetings of the group.

"My family does a scavenger hunt every year for a dinner and then we drop it off at someone's house," said Purser. "I just made up the turkey toss idea."

He later found some pictures on the internet of people tossing rubber turkeys so he knew they could really do it and they sure did.

Rachel Bradshaw, majoring in engineering and fellow USU student Elaine Watkins came out to throw their friend, "Fred" the turkey.

"We wanted to support a great cause," said Bradshaw.

She threw the 15 pound bird 17 feet and 6 inches.

Students donated either $3 or three cans of food to enter the contest and they tossed steadily even in the slushy, rainy weather Saturday. Many people only wanted to donate food and not even toss a turkey.

One hundred and eighty five cans and boxes of food and with the cash donations the group bought 250 pounds of flour that all went to the food pantry.

"It was the heaviest shopping cart I've ever pushed, that's for sure," said Johnson.

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