After a challenging few weeks for the North Shore, the Great Neck Rotary club is trying to spread some needed Thanksgiving cheer.
The club’s annual Turkey Drive distributed holiday meals to charities, churches and temples across the peninsula, giving Thanksgiving staple foods to over 1,000 needy families.
“It’s probably the time of greatest need, especially after the hurricane,” said club member Richard Karpf.
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, the club’s distribution facility at the Merchant Marine Academy was nearly empty.
But by Sunday, said club president Ronald Swartz, it would be wall-to-wall with supplies: thousands of pounds of potatoes, canned yams, cranberry sauce, corn, gravy and carrots.
And that’s not to mention the 1,050 turkeys the group’s volunteers were scheduled to pick up Monday from Waldbaums.
“There’s an enormous logistical battle involved in all of this,” said Swartz.
“Today is day one – it’s a four-day process,” said former club president and drive organizer Roger Chizever.
On Sunday, dozens of volunteers of all ages helped assemble the meals, passing items along an assembly line until the thousand-plus recyclable bags were ready for donation.
The club faced additional challenges this year due to Hurricane Sandy. Among the storm’s lesser-known effects was a Thanksgiving turkey shortage – a crisis resolved when Waldbaums agreed to supply the drive, selling the turkeys to the club at cost.
“We were touch and go for a while whether we would be able to get [turkeys,]” said Swartz.
Chizever praised Waldbaums manager Fred Surbito or his efforts, saying he gave up both time and money to help supply the drive.
Sandy also disrupted the groups’ meeting schedule and fundraising efforts.
The club relies on fundraising appeals, donation cans placed in local businesses and member contributions to pay for the drive.
The drive has been an annual tradition for over 20 years, said Chizever, and arose out of humble beginnings.
“It started in some guy’s garage,” he said.
Despite rising food costs, logistical challenges and the effects of Sandy, Chizever and Swartz said they consider themselves and the club fortunate given the devastation faced by Long Island’s South Shore, Staten Island and other flooded out parts of New York and New Jersey.
The drive, Swartz said, is emblematic of the Rotary Club’s motto – service above self.
