Winner winner, more than 1,000 turkey dinners

Janelle Clausen
Volunteers, seen flanked by produce and other goods, gave their time to help assemble meals for families in need. (Photo courtesy of Roger Chizever)

This year’s Great Neck Rotary Club turkey drive gave a few more families something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, with the drive raising its goal and reaching out to more organizations.

Normally, the Great Neck Rotary Club turkey drive would provide a thousand families a Thanksgiving meal.

But this year they upped their quota to 1,100 families, rotary club president Roger Chizever said, in order to help two new groups and others that needed a few more turkeys this year.

The Moving Doctor, a company based in Queens, donated their delivery services and truck for the drive. (Photo courtesy of Roger Chizever)

“They all needed a little more, so I said, ‘okay, instead of doing a thousand, let’s do the 1,100,” Chizever said in an interview. “So that’s what we did.”

In some ways, Chizever said, the drive worked out to be a sort of Thanksgiving miracle.

Not only did they raise more money for food, he said, but they got donations from all around the North Shore and purchased the 14-pound turkeys for less than last year.

Chizever said the better turkey deal came through in part because of a special deal with Stop and Shop. One of the rotary club’s members worked in Westchester, near the store chain’s corporate office, and managed to secure a lower price per pound.

“Stop and Shop gave us such a great price – I couldn’t believe it,” Chizever said. “We ended up getting 1,100 turkeys and it ended up costing well under $10,000.”

A sampling of the 1,100 bags people would ultimately assemble for families in need across Long Island. (Photo courtesy of Roger Chizever)

Most of the the other items, like potatoes, carrots, peas, canned yams and gravy were purchased through Best Market. The rotary club then bought stuffing through Costco.

When the Rotary Club went to the United States Merchant Marine Academy to bag up the items over the weekend, between 70 and 80 people assisted.

Representatives from the Interact clubs of Manhasset and Great Neck, girl scouts, Key Club members and Great Neck Chinese Association “came out in force to help us,” Chizever said.

“It’s just amazing to see the way people work together,” Chizever said, noting it only took a few hours to get everything ready. “When we did this years ago, it took forever… It was an all day event.”

After assembling the meals together with other community members, the Rotary Club gave out these meals to around 25 organizations so they could pinpoint who needed the most help in those areas.

Some of the local organizations included Samuel Field Y in Little Neck, the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, CLASP Children’s Center, Temple Beth-El, Lakeville AME Zion Church and St. Mary’s Church.

Many volunteers made their way out to the Merchant Marine Academy to help put together meals for families in need. (Photo courtesy of Roger Chizever)

As of the Friday after Thanksgiving, Chizever said they hadn’t finished counting how much money was raised. But so far, he said he anticipates they will have a lot of funds to start with next year.

And the chance to help those in need is priceless.

“It feels good to help out these people,” Chizever said. “What we do is give out to families that are hurting, and they’re able to have a thanksgiving meal at home with their families.”

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