Nicole Davis, 46, plans to roast her free turkey on Thanksgiving and serve it to “at least 20 people, if not more.’’

Maria Mendes, 65, will cook her turkey on Thursday, along with some traditional dishes from her native Cape Verde, for her three children and five grandchildren.

Joyce Sinclair, 84, will keep hers frozen until her annual Christmas Eve family dinner.

The 3,000 turkeys outgoing City Councilor Tito Jackson gave away at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center on Sunday went home with families that will celebrate many different holiday traditions, but each will take a little financial pressure off those responsible for the feast, recipients said.

“I think it’s great they’re giving people an opportunity to get a turkey, because many people really can’t afford one,’’ said Davis, of Charlestown. “So I thank God they’re doing this.’’

Jackson’s annual giveaway began with just 300 turkeys in 2010, shortly before he was first elected to the City Council. Sunday marked his last turkey distribution as a councilor, but he said it may continue after his term expires next month, following his loss on Election Day to Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

“We’ll go back and look at making sure the mission is aligned with all the needs that our community faces,’’ said Jackson, who pays for the turkeys through donations to his Tito Jackson Community Fund.

“You want people to be able to have the dignity to sit down with their families and break bread,’’ Jackson said. “It is important in difficult situations that you’re able to step up for people.’’

Jackson declined to say what he’ll do after he leaves office but said he has been considering several “opportunities.’’

“My public life is not over, and I have a great deal more that I would love to give, if the people will have me,’’ he said. “I’ve enjoyed this job more than any other job that I’ve ever had.’’

Despite his loss at the polls, Jackson said, he feels good about the campaign he ran, and he remains committed to the issues that made up his platform, including income inequality, affordable housing, safer streets, and closing the achievement gap between white students and children of color.

“It was never about me as an individual,’’ Jackson said of the campaign. “The mission and the purpose is the people.’’

As the turkey giveaway began just past noon, Roxbury resident Jennifer Wooten, 51, approached Jackson.

“I just want to shake your hand and take a quick picture,’’ she told him, handing her phone to her 14-year-old daughter, Rallena Cox, and putting her left arm around Jackson.

“I still got you. I still support you,’’ she told him, and he pledged that he would continue in public life.

Wooten said in an interview that she has known Jackson since he was a Metco student at Brookline High School.

“He’s always been for the people,’’ she said. “He’s out there helping people in need from our community.’’

As community members approached Jackson and his army of volunteers, the councilor looked much as he had on the campaign trail, greeting them with handshakes and hugs.

The first person to pick up a turkey was Sinclair, a Mattapan resident who came to the Reggie Lewis Center with her daughter and her lifelong friend Charlotte Lowe, 82. The friends met when Lowe was a newborn just home from the hospital at her family’s house in Cambridge, across the street from Sinclair’s family, they said.

Sinclair said she would have about 30 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at her home when she cooks her turkey for their holiday gathering.

“It’s been going on for 46 years, since my husband died,’’ she said.

For Christmas, she said, the Sinclairs will send a care package to a family in the hurricane-devastated US Virgin Islands.

“We decided we would do that this year, because they really needed help,’’ she said.

This was Davis’s first time picking up a turkey, though she has driven by the Lewis Center in past years and seen the queue of families outside. She and a cousin will cook Thanksgiving dinner for their family, she said, admitting she has “very mixed’’ feelings about having a houseful of relatives.

“I may spend some time downstairs, and some time in my room,’’ Davis said with a laugh.

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.