Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Turkeys Being Given Away At Clemente High School Thursday Night

By Alisa Hauser | November 17, 2016 9:31am
 Turkey and food drive organizer Isabella Garcia-Ding
Turkey and food drive organizer Isabella Garcia-Ding
View Full Caption
Courtest of Bridget Garcia

WEST TOWN — Families and people who need help buying food for Thanksgiving are encouraged to pop by West Town's Roberto Clemente Community Academy on Thursday, where students and neighborhood police officers will be giving away frozen turkeys and bags of nonperishable food.

The Thanksgiving food pantry and turkey giveaway is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the lobby of the neighborhood high school at 1147 N. Western Ave. Some 65 frozen turkeys and 75 bags of food will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis.

Roberto Clemente Community Academy sophomore Isabella Garcia-Ding masterminded the food drive, her second grassroots effort, following a Three Kings Day drive last winter.

Garcia-Ding says her goal for her group "Give 3K" is to eventually give away 3,000 pounds of cans of nonperishable food, a random number she decided would be a good goal.

"I know half of Division [Street] is poor and the other half isn't. I want to help my friends, a lot are on LINK cards," Garcia-Ding said of the economic divide at her school, where she was told that there are students from 30 homeless families who attend her school.

Police officers from the Shakespeare District (14th) and the Near West District (12th), along with firefighters from two battalions and Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) are planning to assist Garcia-Ding and a few dozen students in the receiving line.

Moreno and other donors chipped in to buy 65 frozen turkeys and canned goods were collected at local police and fire stations and at Burr Elementary School, Garcia-Ding said. 

 

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here.