Turkeys 4U

PATERSON  In 1943, American artist Norman Rockwell created a painting depicting the Thanksgiving celebration with generations of family surrounding a table and the matriarch of the family presenting the traditional turkey she prepared for dinner.

Throughout the Diocese, many families will be bringing this painting to life today. Fortunately, that also includes 410 families in the city of Paterson thanks to Turkeys 4U, a group of students, from Kinnelon High School, who provided Our Lady of the Magnificat Parish and poor families in Paterson with a Thanksgiving turkey.

“Without your support, these 410 families would not have a Thanksgiving,” said Carlos Roldan, director of Catholic Charities’ Father English Community Center (FECC) food pantry. “We greatly appreciate you thinking about us during this holiday season.”

The 410 turkeys were delivered Nov. 18 for clients of Father English to Eva’s Village here, the food pantry’s temporary location following a fire that destroyed the pantry at FECC’s 435 Main Street location Nov. 2. This delivery was the largest made by Turkeys 4U this year, an organization that has been donating turkeys for the poor for several years. Turkeys 4U also donated turkeys on that day to Pine Brook Firehouse, the Kinnelon Health Department, families from Parsippany schools, St. Peter the Apostle Parish and St. Ann Parish, both in Parsippany, and the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morris Plains. This year in total the group donated 758 turkeys. Transportation was provided by My Limo in East Hanover, which drove the students from Kinnelon to Paterson and the other stops they made.

Turkeys 4U is a student run organization initiated in 2001 by 14-year-old Kinnelon resident, Blake Wheale. His mission came about when he sat at the table during Thanksgiving dinner and wondered about those who could not afford a Thanksgiving dinner. Since its creation, the mission of Turkeys 4U is to provide turkeys, food and food gift cards for the working poor and less fortunate. Turkeys 4U works in cooperation with Montville UNICO, a non-profit organization whose charter includes feeding those less fortunate in Morris and Passaic counties.

Tim Elefonte, a senior at Kinnelon High School, who is a parishioner of Our Lady of the Magnificat in Kinnelon, was one of the 34 students who spent the day delivering turkeys. “It’s our responsibility to give back and help others in need,” he told The Beacon. “Some people struggle to get by and are unable to enjoy the holidays as we do.”

Creating an assembly line, the 34 students transferred the frozen turkeys, four in a box, from the truck which came from Mennella’s Poultry in Paterson and into the freezer at Eva’s Village culinary school.

Starting in August, the students in the organization begin reaching out to the community for monetary donations to purchase turkeys. One hundred percent of all donations are used for food because Montville UNICO pays for the administrative costs, writes the required letters so donors may receive the appropriate tax deduction, and supplies volunteer hours to assist students.

Elefonte became involved last year after a friend invited him to join. “You’re surrounded by a lot of people my age who want to help others. It’s a good feeling to give back,” he said.

Since 2002, almost $214,000 has been raised and 14,040 turkeys have been delivered and thousands of dollars in gift certificates have been given. The organization will be back at Father English Center next year. As long as there is a need, the members promise to continue to be there for the poor in Paterson.

Debra Casha, a parishioner of Our Lady of the Magnificat and a lawyer, advises the young people for this mission. She has been a part of Turkeys 4U since its creation and remembers when the founder came into her law office looking for help on how to start a 501(c)3 organization.

Roger Huss, also an OLM parishioner, works with the organization as a liaison for OLM Parish. He told The Beacon, “Those 410 turkeys delivered to Father English Pantry today will make a nice Thanksgiving dinner for those in need. We at OLM thank the Turkeys 4U group of students for their generosity.”

[Information: www.montvilleunicofoundation.org.]