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Group feeds borough’s neediest with annual Thanksgiving drive
A local civic group in Madison
and Marine Park held its annual
Thanksgiving food drive in November,
collecting food outside some
stores and placing collection boxes for
non-perishable items outside a number
of others, an opportunity for good
Samaritans to drop donations off leading
up to the holiday.
Members of the Madison-Marine-
Homecrest Civic Association have
gathered food for the area’s neediest
for about ten years, and the collection
boxes around local grocery stores are
now a familiar sight to many residents,
according to the group’s president.
“People have come up to me and
asked me ‘Where are the boxes?’ ” said
Ed Jaworski a week before the drive
started.
The boxes were at several stores, including
Michael’s Bakery on Nostrand
Avenue, JoMart Chocolates and Pronto
Pizza on Avenue R, Tom’s Cleaners on
Avenue S, and at the Fish Market, G&S
Pork Store, T&D Bakery, and Roosevelt
Savings Bank, all on Avenue U.
The group also set up a stand to
collect food donations at Key Food on
Gerritsen Avenue, and shoppers were
able to buy an extra food item, such as
canned tomato sauce or spaghetti, and
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donate it during their weekend grocery
haul on November 11.
The civic group then delivered the
supplies to Our Lady of Refuge Church
at Foster and Ocean avenues, which
distributed the goods via its food bank,
the lines for which during the holidays
Jaworski described as a sobering
sight.
“It’s sad,” he said.
The Offi ce of the Brooklyn Borough
President has hosted many of its own
food-pantry events around this time
of year — including the distribution
of 1,000 turkeys with the accompanying
healthy trimmings and vegetables
— and emphasizes the importance of
work done by groups such as the Madison
Marine-Homecrest Civic Association,
and the integral part they play in
their communities and beyond.
“I often say people get it mixed up;
they think ‘Thanks-receiving’ when
it’s really ‘Thanks-giving,’ ” Borough
President Adams said. “So many people
are not in a position to feed themselves
at this time of the year. Soup
kitchen lines are getting longer but the
patience of the volunteers and staffers
are not getting shorter. With the support
of incredible community partners
and great volunteers that come out and
give a hand, I am proud to distribute
Thanksgiving meals that advance this
mission. This is the season to remember
what One Brooklyn truly stands
for, and I encourage all of our neighbors
to be part of this effort.”
The local group also collected
around $500 in cash, which they used
to buy turkeys, chickens, and potatoes
on Thanksgiving Day, Jaworski said.
Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association members Susan
Reddy, Vandana Ranjan, and Elizabeth Morrissey collected food
donations from shoppers outside Key Food in Gerritsen Beach in
November as part of the civic group’s annual Thanksgiving food
drive. Photo by Kevin Duggan
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