Community Corner

Helping Those in Need This Thanksgiving

How to help those who are struggling this holiday season.

Local businesses and residents alike are spreading holiday cheer this Thanksgiving to help families in need. And there are plenty of opportunities to help ensure that those struggling this year can find some Thanksgiving joy.

“For many of us the holidays are a time of joy, but for more than 300,000 Long Islanders, including 110,000 children, hunger is a daily struggle,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO of Island Harvest Food Bank, Long Island’s largest hunger relief organization. 

“This holiday season, you can give hope to a local family facing hunger and uncertainty by conducting a food drive at your school or workplace, or donating food or funds,” she said. 

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Island Harvest delivers food to as many as 570 soup kitchens, shelters, food pantries, low-income daycare centers, senior, youth outreach and rehabilitation centers. The organization also coordinates many volunteer opportunities across Long Island.

And Long Islanders are already proving generous. Businesses and individuals donated 1,400 turkeys and more than 12,000 pounds of food at a recent food drive hosted by Bethpage Federal Credit Union. Long Islanders can also donate turkeys on Saturday at the Kenneth P. Lavalle Stadium at Stony Brook University from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

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Check here  for a list of upcoming food collections in communities from Hauppauge to Huntington and more where you can volunteer.

Many of the soup kitchens working with Island Harvest say that because holiday time is the busiest, they cannot accommodate new volunteers – though they appreciate offers to help. Instead, Long Islanders are asked to local religious organizations, senior community centers, nursing homes, hospitals and non-profit community organizations that thrive on volunteer support. 

The following businesses and organizations  in Suffolk County are making it easy to donate turkeys, canned goods and holiday trimmings. Panera Bread as well as The Bristal Assisted Living at 760 Larkfield Road in East Northport, are accepting frozen turkeys and canned and packaged foodMcDonalds is accepting canned and packaged food.

Do you know of a place nearby where volunteers can help families in need this holiday season? Tell us in the comments.


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