Thanksgiving
Season of giving in full swing
Local nonprofi ts give away thousands of Thanksgiving turkeys
Top: Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens distributed hundreds of free turkeys at St. Francis of Assisi
Church in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens on Nov. 16. Left: Al and Gabriella Catanese give away turkeys in Prospect-
Lefferts Gardens. Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens
COURIER LIFE, NOVEMBER 19-25, 2021 15
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Thanksgiving will soon
be upon us, and while many
Brooklynites are starting
preparations for their bountiful
meal, others are still struggling
to get by. As the city
approaches a second pandemic
era Thanksgiving, many
charities are stepping up to
the plate to make sure everyone
has something to eat on
Turkey Day.
The Catholic Charities of
Brooklyn and Queens, for instance,
are in the midst of a
campaign to distribute 2,800
frozen turkeys to Kings and
Queens County residents facing
food insecurity. The group
distributed over 800 turkeys to
families at St. Francis of Assisi
Church in Prospect-Lefferts
Gardens on Tuesday, Nov. 16,
and has two more distributions
planned for Jamaica and
Corona, Queens on Nov. 18 and
Nov. 22, respectively.
A whopping 700 of Catholic
Charities’ birds were donated
by Al and Gabriella Catanese
of Rockaway, Queens,
who have been working with
the group for six years to give
away turkeys to those in need.
The Cataneses give away
turkeys in honor of Al’s dad,
also named Al, who owned
a masonry company and
would give each of his workers
a turkey around Thanksgiving,
a tradition carried on
by the younger Al. The son
told Brooklyn Paper that after
he retired, he felt a sense
of emptiness around the holidays
when not giving away
turkeys, leading him to connect
with Catholic Charities
to facilitate a distribution effort.
Catholic Charities does
not give away turkeys to anyone
off the street, but rather
relies on a voucher system decentralized
among parishes
that ensures the turkeys go to
those in need.
“It’s a good feeling when
you look somebody in the
eye and wish them a Happy
Thanksgiving,” said Catanese,
who noted that hundreds
of folks lined up at the Prospect
Lefferts Gardens giveaway.
“And they appreciate it,
because that turkey is going to
good use.”
The group is also offering
COVID-19 and fl u vaccines at
each of its turkey giveaways,
where masks and social distancing
are required. Catanese
said that his brother died
from COVID-19 this year, and
this year’s giveaway is dedicated
to his memory.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn,
the Campaign Against Hunger,
a nonprofi t that operates
food pantries and urban
farms to combat food insecurity,
teamed up with meal kit
company HelloFresh to distribute
over 1,000 turkeys and
1,000 boxes of sides to veterans
out of its Canarsie warehouse
on Nov. 17. On Nov. 18, the Red
Hook Initiative and incoming
City Councilmember Alexa
Avilés will partner with Door-
Dash to give away turkeys at
the Red Hook Community Senior
Center, and on Nov. 22,
Reaching Out Community
Services will distribute over
500 free turkeys to Brooklyn
children as part of its annual
Operation Gobbler Giving.
Food insecurity is an enduring
problem in New York
City; nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers
are food insecure, according
to City Harvest, including
about one in three children.
The problem was already
stark before COVID-19 rampaged
through the city, but the
pandemic only exacerbated
the issue as millions lost jobs
and income.
On top of that, supply chain
issues have caused the price
of turkeys to ascend to record
heights. A report last week by
the federal Department of Agriculture
pegged the average
price of a frozen 16-24 pound
turkey at $1.36 per pound, up
nearly 20 percent from its $1.15
per pound price point last
year. Consumers also have to
shell out the shekels for a fresh
bird as well, which costs about
$1.44 per pound, up 9 percent
from $1.32 last year.
The turkey squeeze is forcing
some nonprofi ts to improvise.
Masbia Soup Kitchen,
which has operations in Flatbush
and Borough Park, is
giving out turkey parts rather
than whole birds, which CEO
Alex Rappaport told News 12
is more cost-effective for the
nonprofi t.