Doug Gerber, owner of the Smith Street Deli in Merrick, recently donated 500 turkeys to Long Island Cares –– The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Hauppauge. more

One of Merrick’s most popular eateries will soon be put in the national spotlight. The Pit Stop, on Sunrise Highway, is scheduled to be featured on an episode of Guy Fieri’s hit show on the Food Network, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” more

Students at the Sacred Heart School in North Merrick pulled out all the stops to feed the hungry this Thanksgiving. Beside their normal collection of food items and monetary donations for the Sacred Heart food pantry, the students held a bake sale on Nov. 22 and a "$5 Soup Lunch" on Nov. 23, with all proceeds benefiting the Sacred Heart pantry. more

Please don’t tell me we are what we eat, because that would mean a guy I read about is actually a USB storage device. He was in the process of using a flash drive to steal information from an ATM when the cops broke in. He swallowed the device and had to give it up the hard way at the insistence of police. more

About 40 members of the Merrick Kiwanis Club, the Calhoun High School Key Club and the Merrick Avenue Middle School Builders Club loaded up vans full of food and toys and distributed the goods among families throughout the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District last Sunday. Students at elementary schools in the Merrick and North Merrick school districts, along with the MAMS and Calhoun, collected the toys in recent weeks. The Kiwanis Club collected food donations outside of local supermarkets. more

Traditionally, food drives to benefit the hungry are scheduled around Thanksgiving and extended through the December holidays, at most through the turn of the New Year. This year, however, as the economy took a turn for the worse, Assembly Dave McDonough, a Republican representing Bellmore-Merrick, kept his annual food drive going year 'round, the need for food just as compelling this summer and early fall. Since November, hundreds of pounds of food have been collected, but much more needs to be done, the assemblyman said. Donations of canned goods and other non-perishable food items may be dropped off at McDonough's district office at 404 Bedford Ave. in Bellmore. All donations are delivered to local food pantries in the area for distribution to families in need. more