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The Thanksgiving Food Project was successfully completed with 77 Council members participating. This project was started by Brother Jim Welsh and for 20 consecutive years we help feed the poor atThanksgiving. A total of $4,152 was donated this year which includes a $642 Poor Box collection the weekend of 11/21/10. In addition to the money donated, 829 food items, 13 cooked turkeys and 201 frozen apple pies (worth $2,211) were donated. The pies were donated by St. John the Evangelist parishioners through the School’s November Market Day event. With these donations our Council provided food for 295 families and 180 individuals!
The total food supplied was: 137-16 lb. frozen turkeys, 13-20 lb. cooked turkeys, 60 lbs. of potatoes, 40 lbs. of yams, 201 frozen pies, 26 large fresh pies, 125-5 lb. bags of sugar, 125-2 lb. bags of brown sugar, 225 boxes of stuffing, 99 cans of soup, 196 gravy packets/jars, 170 cans of cranberry sauce, 596 cans of vegetables, 161 boxes of macaroni/cheese, 125 bottles of vegetable oil, 151 cans of tuna, 125 boxes of cereal, 125-3 lb. bags of rice, 180 cans of soda, 52 boxes of instant potatoes, 220 dinner rolls and 227miscellaneous items.
These donations were distributed to Our Daily Bread Employment Center, the 170 families registered with Beans & Bread Outreach Center and the 125 families registered with the Missionaries of Charity–Gift of Hope Convent. The food distribution schedules of these organizations required 3 separate deliveries (11/19, 11/20 & 11/24) and each delivery required 2 fully loaded trucks. On the 24th, we provided cooked turkeys and all the food needed for complete Thanksgiving dinners to: the 67 students/graduates/staff at Our Daily Bread Employment Center and the Missionaries of Charity nuns who fed 100 senior citizens on Thanksgiving. On the 24th, we also provided 135 frozen pies and numerous miscellaneous items to Beans & Bread. All of this could not have been accomplished without the generous support from Long Green Valley Council #8736 members, Knights’ Ladies, St. John The Evangelist Church parishioners, St. John The Evangelist School and SJE School Market Day.
My heartfelt thanks goes out to all of you. In particular, I would like to thank the following: Msgr. Richard Cramblitt for allocating the Poor Box proceeds on Nov. 20th & 21st to our project and Jane Andrews for managing the project account at St. John the Evangelist Church; Diana Elliott for her efforts in obtaining 201 Market Day pie donations; SJE School teachers Nicole Creamer, Marilyn Donohue & Sara Macek for organizing a SJE School food collection drive which resulted in a donation of 355 items; Ed Gibbons, PGK Michael Sallese, PGK Robert Dee, CharlesBogdanowicz, J. Robert Elliott, Larry Polk and PGK Paul Weber for providing cooked turkeys for the Thanksgiving dinners; PGK Carroll McComas, Kevin McComas, John Caine and Ron Carr for providingtheir vehicles and time to make the food deliveries; PGK James Schmidt Sr., Michael Keegan, William Bilo, Gene Messenger, PGK Ross Galeano, Gerald Henderson and Jim Wright for their assistance with the food deliveries.
May the Lord reward all project participants in His special way.
John J. Mayni, Project Chairman
