Hundreds Of Neighbors Line Up On Church Avenue For Thanksgiving Turkeys From CAMBA; Nonprofit Still Needs Our Help With The Holiday Drive
When Thanksgiving comes, so do the stories of the food drives. Of hunger. Of neighbors needing help. We’ve certainly done all of those. And they’re all true – and important. But it is one thing to know that someone is hungry – and quite something else to see hundreds of people lined up along Church Avenue, waiting, a paper voucher in hand, for a Thanksgiving turkey.
Of the crowd of people – the retired teachers and the single moms working three jobs and the veterans and the children dwarfed by giant coats – who stood in line Tuesday to receive their holiday bird as part of CAMBA’s “500 Turkeys For 500 Families” drive (which isn’t over, and please donate here if you can), many knew the non-profit’s food pantry at 2241 Church Avenue well. Each week, many of those in line for the turkeys know what it is to wait patiently, whether it’s freezing or raining or scorching hot, to get the milk and the bread and the vegetables they cannot afford. According to CAMBA, about 4,300 people go to the nonprofit’s food pantry each month – and that number continues to grow.
“You don’t want to be hungry on Thanksgiving, and everyone in this line has been hungry,” one woman told us as she waited with her elderly mother in the line that stretched from Flatbush Avenue to the pantry. “You ever been hungry? You can’t explain it. You just don’t want to be it.”
“That’s why we’re thankful for the turkeys,” another woman chimed in. “You can’t have Thanksgiving without the turkey. My granddaughter told me about – what is it called? Tofu-turkey? – the other day, and I had none of that. You younger people can have that. Not for me, no thanks.”
Many of those we spoke to said the same thing: On Thanksgiving, they’d like to forget, temporarily, about all of life’s struggles – of the lost jobs and the food stamp benefits decreasing and the hunger – and join the rest of the country in sitting down at a table filled with food.
“We wouldn’t have this without the pantry, but you have to wish that you didn’t need them,” one man said. “But you thank God that you have them.”
Michelle Plummer, who waited in line with her daughter, Katie, 2, echoed this sentiment.
“I wouldn’t have a turkey without the pantry,” she said. “This is a rare treat for us.”
In total, CAMBA gave out turkeys to 782 families on Tuesday – as well as trimmings for their holiday meals.
“Having a turkey on Thanksgiving will make somebody happy,” CAMBA Program Supervisor Lucila Santana told us. “A lot of people have told me how frustrated they feel to not have a turkey. It really upsets them.”
In addition to Santana and other CAMBA staff, volunteers were also on hand to help out, including several retired women who faithfully come each week. Officers from the 70th Precinct also helped to hand out turkeys.
Again, CAMBA is still collecting money to help pay for the turkeys – and we are hoping to raise $15,000 before Thanksgiving. If you could, please remember your neighbors – CAMBA does a great job of helping them out when they’re struggling, but the nonprofit needs funds to do so. And, as Santana pointed out, turkeys are the most expensive part of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
“It really means a lot to them, to us,” Santana said. “These turkeys, it really makes their day.”
Or, as another neighbor, Raquel, said to us: “You wonder if people see you. You can feel like nobody cares. But you come here, and you don’t feel invisible.”
To donate to CAMBA’s Thanksgiving drive, please go here. And from all of us at Ditmas Park Corner, thank you!