STATEN ISLAND, NY – With shortages due to COVID and a pullback from usual food sources already stretched, this holiday season is gloomy in the frozen turkey department. With this, the St. Peter’s Pantry is asking for help in keeping a healthy holiday stock.
“Over the past few years, the pantry has been blessed with abundant donations of turkeys. We have always been able to deliver on our commitments to our pantry community, as well as other organizations we have helped. This year is different. Turkeys are not available to us and without additional support we will not be able to serve these people and groups, â€said Nancy Hally, one of the organizers of the Wednesday Pantry. This hub feeds hundreds of Staten Islanders from approximately 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., or while supplies last.
She encourages other borough residents to help get turkeys. If anyone wants to participate, they are encouraged to call the rectory at 718-727-2672. Drops from Turkey are welcome, but should be arranged via a phone call first. But there is a convenient way to deliver a bird to another member of the community.
November 20 is the day of the turkey distribution at 53 St. Mark’s Square. If they want to bring a turkey that Saturday, Hally asked the people of Staten Island to bring it between about 9 a.m. and noon. It would be an ideal situation with less storage and handling of the turkeys.
“We’re going to connect them. And when someone comes, we’ll give it away,†Hally said.
A volunteer in the district’s hunger feeding efforts lamented the situation but sympathized with the food distributors’ conundrum about the turkey shortage. He said: “There are many reasons why donor problems cannot be avoided, not the least of which is related to the supply chain. This is quite understandable.
He added, “It’s not about turkeys. We look beyond January and February when the weather is cold and people are out of work. Very often our storage is not enough to get through the winter. It is very true. Winter is critical.
This particular pantry began in 2000 in St. Paul’s under the supervision of the late Bishop. Vincent Bartley with a predominantly Spanish speaking audience and the elderly residents of nearby Cassidy Homes. In 2007, it was transformed into Assomption-St. Paul with similar clientele makeup.
From 2015 to last year it was supervised by Fr. Michael Cichon, the former pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul and the Assumption. Now Fr. Louis Jérôme is the tenderer of the feeding effort.
Anyone wishing to volunteer can email [email protected]. Work obligations would include two days a week for two hours and the main activity takes place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There are other anti-hunger groups around Staten Island. Some of the contacts are Gloria Novoa of Project Hospitality, who can be reached at 718-448-1544, ext. 173, or email him at [email protected]. Joe Bertone for Mid-Island can be contacted at [email protected]. Jim Ritorto is the director of Catholic Charities on the South Shore and can be reached at 718-644-1087 or [email protected]. The website is Mountloretto.org.
The “Leave No Forks Empty†Food Drive requires non-perishable items and / or money for the purchase of turkeys. The deadline is Monday, November 22. For more information, visit https://www.cc-si.org/leave-no-fork-empty-campaign/.
Additionally, if a generous South Shore resident of Staten Island wishes to donate an actual turkey (instead of a monetary donation), frozen turkeys can be dropped off at the Catholic Charities of Staten Island CYO Community Center (North Shore), 120 Anderson Ave., Princes Bay, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, until the November 22 deadline.
Pamela Silvestri is Editor-in-Chief of Advance Food. She can be reached at [email protected].
Dos and don’ts of food drives: Donate canned tuna. Do not give open packets of sliced ​​cheese.
