Needy Have Long Wait for Thanksgiving : Holiday: Hundreds of people will receive food baskets and meals from dozens of Valley organizations.

There were 80 free turkeys and 109 people in line to claim them.

Many had been waiting all morning Wednesday in front of the Van Nuys Salvation Army Corps building for something most Americans take for granted.

There was Chris Vance, a homeless man who planned to hack the 13-pound turkey in half and grill it in a nearby park.

Brigitte, unemployed at 63, was facing an empty refrigerator at home, said a friend who watches over her and drove her to the charity.

And then there was Fatemeh Jabari, with two weeping children in tow, standing in the center of it all, screaming at the crowd not to crush the kids.

She strained to hold the crowd back, determined to give her son and daughter an American Thanksgiving despite her husband’s meager salary.

They were among the hundreds of people who will receive free food baskets and meals for Thanksgiving from dozens of San Fernando Valley organizations.

When the doors of the Salvation Army finally opened at 1:30 p.m., the crowd pushed, shoved and elbowed its way toward the turkeys.

Less than a block away, motorists eagerly gassed up their sleek Hondas and Miatas in anticipation of the long weekend.

“When you’re in need, you don’t have any pride about trying to get what you have to have,” said Anne Pate, 26, a part-time data entry clerk who waited in line for food to feed her 19-month-old daughter. “I’ll take anything--it doesn’t have to be a turkey.”

Dismayed by the size and vehemence of the crowd, Salvation Army workers quickly decided to give away an additional 20 turkeys that they had been saving for “a street feeding” Sunday night.

They also gave candy and balloons for the children.

In the end, all but nine people left carrying plastic bags filled with turkey and a loaf of bread for stuffing.

“My big fear was that we wouldn’t have enough and we’d have a mini-riot on our hands,” Major Chet Danielson said, adding that he did not have time to question each family to determine whether they were truly in need.

“My personal belief is that if I’m going to err, it should be on the side of generosity,” he said. “I’ve been taken to the cleaners a jillion times before, but I’d rather that than to turn somebody down with an honest-to-goodness need.”

Vance, Brigitte and Jabari got turkeys.

“Thank God for everything and especially for this turkey,” Jabari said. “Now my daughter will be able to go back to school and say she had an American holiday.”

Elsewhere in the Valley on Wednesday, Lutheran Social Services gave away about 80 food baskets in Van Nuys.

Included were foodstuffs donated by the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors, which collected 50,000 cans and packages to give to nonprofit organizations.

More than 42 nonprofit groups in the Valley give food away year-round and probably put together Thanksgiving baskets of some kind for their clients, said Marianne Galleon, a spokeswoman for INFO-LINE, a county-run referral service.

But many chose not to list their Thanksgiving Day services with INFO-LINE, fearing the type of crush that overwhelmed the Van Nuys Salvation Army on Wednesday, she said.

Most organizations are so strapped for volunteers and funds that they will serve Thanksgiving dinner only to groups of pre-screened people, Galleon said.

For instance, Valley Shelter will serve turkey dinner today, but only to the 150 people who are staying in a former hotel in North Hollywood.

Various churches and synagogues throughout the Valley will serve free Thanksgiving meals.

Included among them is the Pacoima Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is offering round-trip van service to the church for anyone who calls 896-4488 between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.