Boston gets into the holiday spirit at the Food Bank’s annual Chain of Giving event.

Boston residents gathered Thursday morning to once again donate hundreds of turkeys to their neighbors and kick off the holiday season at the Greater Boston Food Bank’s annual Donation Chain.

“This helps raise awareness among people that hunger is a serious problem in Massachusetts,” said GBFB President and CEO Catherine D’Amato. “It’s a big problem: one in three people experience food insecurity. This is important – they represent young people, students, elderly people, the military. They represent people who are homeless, not homeless. People who own their homes. Quite varied.

More than 150 participants, including Mayor Michelle Wu, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and the Wellesley Girl Scout troop, gathered at the food bank Thursday morning to move 1,200 turkeys from the truck through the warehouse to be distributed to families in need.

In total, D’Amato said the bank will give out about 220,000 turkeys and turkey parts, as well as chicken and produce, this holiday season. But the food bank also distributes free food throughout the year, she said, emphasizing that hunger is a problem in the region 365 days a year.

Before COVID-19, about one in seven people in Massachusetts went hungry, the president said. Since the outbreak until now, approximately one in three people in the state have gone hungry.

“Our financially strapped neighbors often have to make difficult decisions between buying food or paying for housing, healthcare or transportation,” Driscoll said. “That’s why our administration is taking a community-wide approach to hunger, and we work hand-in-hand with community partners like GBFB every day.”

The food bank also opened a new refrigeration unit capable of storing 400 pallets of perishable food items. The new facility, funded with ARPA money, will allow the facility to distribute approximately eight million additional meals each year and store much more protein and dairy products, especially eggs, D’Amato said.

The atmosphere at GBFB Thursday morning was lively and upbeat, with music playing as a turkey walked by.