KINGSTON – Scores of holiday turkeys are being
cooked by volunteers across the Mid-Hudson Valley this week, as community
organizations get ready for the annual Thanksgiving holiday feast.
Despite rising cases of food insecurity and Federal SNAP benefit applications,
there is no shortage of donations to provide hot meals on this day of
thanks, marked by togetherness and friendship.
All seeking a hot plate of food will not be turned away, volunteers assured.
Michael Berg, the executive director for Family of Woodstock, said 500
guests are expected at the 40th annual dinner at the Woodstock Community
Center on Rock City Road.
“It isn’t just an event for people who don’t have, it’s
also for people who have nobody to spend the time with,” Berg observed.
“A lot of people come together, it’s really a sweet event,”
he said.
Volunteers at Clinton Avenue Church in Kingston
Tuesday night saw the 30th dinner for Family’s Adolescent
Services program, which drew hundreds out to the Fair Street Reformed
Church in Kingston. Berg added that the Darmstadt Shelter will also be
celebrating its 30th anniversary on December 8.
A total of seven turkeys made up the Adolescent Services Dinner, explained
team leader Kelly Warringer. “We just all get together and have
a good time,” she said. “We use Facebook a lot.”
Meanwhile, Caring Hands Soup Kitchen was busy preparing
its own feast, preparing 70 whole turkeys, to feed an expected 250 sit-downs
and 650 take-outs. The plates will be topped off with 500 pounds of potatoes
and 600 pounds of stuffing, said Karin, one of the cooks.
Fifteen of those turkeys come cooked from the Bruderhof in Rifton, who
also donated four ovens and a freezer unit to the Soup Kitchen earlier
this year.
None of the groups said they’ve seen any Syrian refugees
yet. “Just the locals, everyday people who come for lunch,”
Karin said.
