Turkeys gone in an hour as 'people are really hurting,' volunteer says

Volunteers had planned to give away nearly 350 turkeys over four hours Saturday in front of a Wyandanch supermarket.

They were gone in an hour.

Several miles south, in Babylon Village, a food drive netted hundreds of pounds to add to the more than 14,000 pounds donated since March.

The events reflected the desperate economic straits that many Long Islanders are in amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to job losses and closed businesses.

"People are really hurting," said Kevin Spann, who owns an Allstate agency in Middle Village, Queens, but grew up in Wyandanch. He helped organize the turkey giveaway with childhood friends, including actor Daryl Mitchell, who donated money for many of the turkeys. "There are a lot of people down on their luck who were getting by on unemployment. When that went away, it took away the Band-Aid over what is happening."

Volunteers took some of nearly 500 turkeys distributed Saturday directly to elderly residents' homes, said Renita Certain, an event organizer and co-owner of Spin the Yard, a Huntington clothing store that also helps former prisoners reenter society. Dozens of people who arrived Saturday hoping to receive turkeys were put on a list for later distribution.

Salica Narvaez, 45, of Wyandanch, was one of them. She said in Spanish that she, her husband, and their three sons, ages 10 to 17, are struggling because her husband is getting fewer hours in his bus driver job because of periodic coronavirus-related school closures.

"Our situation is very difficult," said Narvaez, who said she was grateful for the turkey.

William Certain, Renita's husband who grew up with Spann and Mitchell in Wyandanch, said he and other organizers hadn’t expected demand to be so great, but he said everyone who wanted a turkey would get one. "If it has to come out of our pockets, it will come out of our pockets," he said. "All those people on that list need those turkeys."

Spann said the pandemic "has hurt minority neighborhoods with the deaths [from COVID-19] and the depression" from people struggling economically and socially.

"Some people were wondering how they were going to get a Thanksgiving turkey on the table, and this gives them one less thing to worry about," he said. "It’s important people have some sense of normalcy, even though it may just be a meal, and this gives them a sort of normalcy, so they can have hope for tomorrow."

The Babylon food drive began with three kids talking around a dinner table in March as much of the economy was shutting down.

"People were losing jobs because of COVID, and we were thinking about ways to help," said Kate Garvey, 12. She and siblings Eloise and Sam Garvey, 10-year-old twins, decided to put signs in front of their home asking for food donations.

"We’re so gratified we can help people who can’t afford to buy their own meals," Eloise said.

Passersby on the family’s well-traveled street can drop off food anytime, and mom Bethney Ruggiero and dad Joe Garvey then bring it to the food pantries at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church and First Presbyterian Church, both in Babylon.

On Saturday, a Babylon Fire Department engine led a parade of about a dozen cars to the side of the kids’ home, where a table was set up to accept donations. Members of Sam’s Cub Scout Troop 104 pitched in to help.

Ruggiero said the response had been overwhelming.

"This community was hit hard by Sandy and people received all this kindness and generosity for a long time from this neighborhood and all around," she said. "They’re returning it in spades."

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.