Thanksgiving is coming, but the pantries are bare.

It's the bleak reality this year for local organizations that provide hot holiday meals to people in need.

For instance, the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission needs 800 turkeys for its annual Thanksgiving dinner.

The agency only has about 20 in its freezers right now.

Martha's Village & Kitchen will serve about 1,800 meals that day, a large-scale feast that requires more than 150 birds.

It has four.

“The need is really big for us,” said Gloria Gomez, the co-founder of Martha's Village. “We don't know what we're going to do.”

This comes at a time when need is reaching higher levels than ever due to the recession, local social service providers say.

Unemployment has reached a 25-year high. In Riverside County, the unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in September. Two cities in the Coachella Valley — Coachella and Mecca — were above 20 percent.

It's part of a national trend.

A poll released in September by Feeding America — the nation's largest hunger relief charity — showed that out of 175 food banks polled, all had seen a jump in the number of first-time users in the past year.

So while the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission expects to serve about 3,500 Thanksgiving meals, that number could be much higher.

“So far, we're up about 37 percent of people in need this year, so we do expect to see more for Thanksgiving,” said Darla Burkett, executive director of the nonprofit organization that provides for the homeless and needy.

“We just need all the help we can get from our community.”

The group says it serves more than 80,000 hot meals annually and provides shelter to thousands of men and women with children. It also gives people clothes and showers.

During a normal year, the agency would already have about 400 turkeys in its kitchen, ready to be seasoned and stuffed.

The rest come in through individual donations, businesses and churches about a week before the holiday.

“We do have some food drives coming up, but most of that will be canned goods,” Burkett said. “We are really pleading for turkeys.”

The Well in the Desert has changed its annual Thanksgiving plans.

In previous years, the group served dinner at the Palm Springs Convention Center, which is a pricey location.

Instead, St. Louis Catholic Church in Cathedral City volunteered its location.

“We're lucky,” said Le McClellan, client service manager. “We've been scrounging for turkeys ourselves, but we don't need as many as the mission.

“It's devastating because they do such great work and help so many people.”

Maggie Downs is a features reporter for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at (760) 778-6435 or maggie.downs@thedesertsun.com.