BY BEN VERDE
Amid a holiday season unlike
any other in the last century,
one North Brooklyn
community organization is
making sure their neighbors
in need have somewhere to get
a hot meal on Turkey Day.
The North Brooklyn Angels,
in partnership with a
bevy of other community
groups, will bring 400 meals to
those in need this Thanksgiving,
the group announced last
week. Organizers say the offerings
will be a more elevated
version of what the Angels
usually offer, in order to bring
a “dignifi ed Thanksgiving”
during a challenging time.
COURIER L 22 IFE, NOV. 20-26, 2020
“From the menu, and the
way they are being hosted, and
treated, and welcomed, ushered
through the line, to the way
their meal is packed out, it’s all
done fi rst quality,” said Paul
Samulski, a board member of
the North Brooklyn Angels.
“We’re doing it one step better.”
The Angels expect to distribute
the hundreds of meals
through a combination of graband
go service out of the Brooklyn
Expo Center in Greenpoint,
Volunteers with the North Brooklyn Angels. North Brooklyn Angels
and through deliveries to
homebound seniors in Greenpoint,
Williamsburg, and Bushwick.
During the week leading
up to Thanksgiving, the group
plans on distributing 1,000 frozen
turkeys to local families
and over 1,000 meals at their
regular food distribution sites
across the neighborhood.
Due to changing pandemicrelated
mandates, the Angels
pivoted just two weeks before
Turkey Day from planing a socially
distanced sit-down dinner
at the expo center, to the
grab-and-go plan instead.
“We realized there was just
no way we could do this and be
responsible,” said board member
Tatiana Terzuoli.
Some other North Brooklyn
organizations were forced to
cancel their Thanksgiving initiatives
due to the pandemic,
and are combining their efforts
with the Angels, giving them a
volunteer team of over 45 people
to help distribute food from
commercial kitchens.
Guests who come to the
expo center between 11 am and
1 pm on Thanksgiving will
fi rst go through a personal protective
equipment checkpoint
to make sure they are properly
masked. They will then line up
at one of the two pack-out lines
where they will be able to see
the meal they will receive being
packed into a to-go box before
taking it out the door.
Though, the service won’t
be the only thing that’s top
notch about the give-back.
“The food is not ‘hey, let’s
just make up a meal of what
we’ve got laying around,’” he
said. “It’s actually prepared
by chefs working in a kitchen
outside the facility.”
GIVING
BACK
How community groups
plan to provide a ‘dignifi ed’
Thanksgiving in North BK