PORTSMOUTH — Some people headed into the Rivers Casino on Saturday morning to risk their money at the poker and blackjack tables.

But others were there for a different reason — to pick up a free turkey and fixings for the holidays. City Councilman Vernon L. Tillage Jr. organized the giveaway, which handed out 500 turkeys — along with macaroni and cheese, peas, stuffing and corn bread mix — to hundreds of people.

It was designed, he said, to help the hard-pressed — such as those reeling from the recent government shutdown, dealing with breast cancer or other financial stresses.

Peter Dujardin Kim Jones, a volunteer at a turkey giveaway event at the Rivers Casino Portsmouth, hands out a turkey to Keirra Carter, 36, of Portsmouth, who was picking it up for members of her church.

“It’s a

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