Kiwanis delivers for Thanksgiving

The record was broken — again. The Kiwanis Club of East Meadow reported that it served a total of 120 families in time for Thanksgiving.  

Unlike most record-breaking achievements, this one is not celebrated. Volunteers just work harder.

Last weekend, Kiwanis sponsored the Thanksgiving installment of the holiday basket drive. Each Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hanukkah and Easter/Passover, Kiwanis helps provide components of a complete meal for families in East Meadow who would not otherwise be able to afford it. 

This initiative began in early November, when adult and student volunteers stationed themselves in front of Pathmark and Waldbaum’s in East Meadow for food collection drives. Generous customers donated items on two consecutive weekends. 

Those proceeds were delivered to W.T. Clarke High School last Friday night to kick off basket assembly and delivery. 

Students from the district’s Key Clubs, Builders Clubs and K-Kids, as well as children from St. Raphael’s R.C. Church and the Girl Scouts pitched in to assemble the Thanksgiving food baskets. 

Pounds of boxes and cans of foods like corn and mashed potatoes were lined up across the cafeteria tables, as volunteers diligently compiled full baskets. 

When that process was completed, volunteers woke up early Saturday for delivery. 

The lists of families to receive baskets were compiled with the help of local social workers, clergy and others familiar with the community. Volunteers were assigned families, and given maps to direct them to their destinations. 

They then loaded their vehicles with the completed baskets and added a fresh turkey and went on their ways to visit the families on their lists. 

The program is conducted under the leadership of Community Service/Holiday Food Drive Chairman Jay Steinmetz and Holiday Food Basket Chairman Alan Hodish. 

They are assisted by the seven youth service organizations the club sponsors, the Nassau Community College Circle K, the Key Clubs of East Meadow, Clarke and Sacred Heart High Schools, Woodland and Clarke Middle School Builders Clubs and the Bowling Green and McVey Elementary School K-Kids. 

The holiday basket program will be held again in December for the Christmas/Hanukkah. For more information, visit www.eastmeadowkiwanis.com.