SHREWSBURY, Mass. - Chef and TikTok star Nick DiGiovanni is on a mission to break the Guinness World Record for most turkeys donated in a 24 hour period.

As part of the effort, he made a donation of more than 16,000 pounds of turkeys Monday to the Worcester County Food Bank.

"This is just a huge help," said the food bank's CEO Jean McMurray. "If our community is not supporting us, then we're not in a position to turn around and help the community."

Supermarket chain Stop & Shop gifted the birds as part of its turkey express program. DiGiovanni, who has 9.5 million followers, said he wanted to use his platform for something positive.

"We have lots of silly days when we're just kind of messing around with food," DiGiovanni said. "But, there's also, if you can do everything at once and donate something while also having that fun with food, it's all about just finding that balance of making it fun enough to watch and also doing something good with it."

The record is just more than 100,000 pounds, but DiGiovanni expects to break it easily.

"I would say between 125 and 150 is probably, realistically what we'd hit at the end of the day," DiGiovanni said.

The donation comes at a crucial time for the food bank. Last Thanksgiving, they were able to hand out more than half a million meals.​ McMurray said on average, they see a 44% increase in visitors for the holiday season, and higher food prices are making those numbers even higher this year.

"We are seeing numbers higher since March of 2022 than we saw even during the pandemic," McMurray said.

It also comes as many food banks and pantries are seeing a shortage in turkeys. McMurray said this donation will be given to their 119 partners and pantries in Worcester County.

"They make sure that the food gets to the people who need it," McMurray said. "That's why it works so well. Because the food bank can't be in all 60 communities of Worcester County."