Bellmore church gives Thanksgiving meal boxes to families in need

About 100 families visited Connect Church in Bellmore Sunday for fellowship and free turkeys that were handed out after the service.

"I can give you a turkey or I can give you hope, I can give you destiny," said the pastor, John Gravagna, who tried to do all three. "It doesn't have to be a turkey every day. How about giving someone a smile, how about a handshake and you say, 'How are you today,' and you actually listen to what the answer is?"

The nondenominational church was founded last Easter, at a time when the recession and superstorm Sandy had combined to more than double the number of Long Islanders receiving federal food stamps since 2008, to nearly 188,000.

Cuts in that program last month reduced an individual's $200 monthly benefit to about $189.

"They don't cover much," said Anna Siciliano, 59, of Uniondale, recovering from a back ailment and getting by on disability. "I eat a lot of cereal."

Kristi, a health aide from Freeport who worried giving her last name would embarrass her children, said she wasn't eligible for food stamps but that there'd been times this past year when she'd skipped meals so they could eat.

Hunger had brought her shame, on occasions "when you go to work and your stomach is growling," she said. This wasn't even her regular church, she said. She couldn't bring herself to ask for help there. "I'm too embarrassed."

When the service was done the families were called outside where a tent had been erected against the bone-cold wind.

It held turkeys and boxes of vegetables, pasta, powdered potatoes, pancake mix and syrup, on the theory that it would be nice not to just have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday but also a good breakfast Friday. The mix varied but most held about $100 to $150 worth of food bought by members and friends of the congregation.

They'd spread the word by pasting fliers in the windows of laundromats and supermarkets and talking to social service organizations. Now they worked efficiently to hand out the food and say a quick prayer with the recipients. Then they helped carry the food out to their vehicles.

Outside, lifting and lowering the tent flap to keep it warm inside, stood Jacob Estanis, 46, a civil service worker from East Meadow. He and his wife had sponsored two meal boxes. He was from Haiti, he said, and had not grown up celebrating the American holiday, which he said did not matter one bit.

"If you do good, it feels good," he said.