(Photo by Paul Franz/Greenfield (Mass.) Recorder)
Volunteers from Thomas Memorial G&CC in Turners Falls, Mass. joined forces with the local Sheriff’s Office to put together and distribute 144 Thanksgiving dinner baskets, after raising funds through a golf tournament and collecting donations from local businesses. The 144 baskets, which will include enough to feed 800 people, represent an unfortunate new “record” from previous years and show how much need currently exists, said organizer Chet Czernich. “At this time of year, there are people who are down who need help,” Czernich said. “It feels good that you can have the ability to help others.”
Thomas Memorial Golf & Country Club in Turners Falls, Mass. and the TRIAD team from the Franklin County (Mass.) Sheriff’s Office have joined forces to put together 144 Thanksgiving dinner baskets, distributing them on November 22nd to local charities and senior citizens, the Greenfield (Mass.) Recorder reported.
This was the club’s third year assembling baskets to give out during Thanksgiving week, the Recorder reported. The organization raised $3,900 this year through a golf tournament and collected additional check donations from local businesses. Organizer Chet Czernich estimated the amount of food distributed will be enough to feed 800 people.
The 144 baskets assembled this year represented an increase from 130 and 48 in the previous two years, Czernich noted—an unfortunate new “record,” he told the Recorder, because it upset him to know so many people are currently in need.
“We were hoping it would be lower, to see that things were getting better,” Czernich said. “But we knew it would be higher.”
At the same time, he added, putting in the effort to help is something Thomas Memorial G&CC takes pride in, the Recorder reported. Czernich recounted his search for cheap food items and ingredients—turkeys, potatoes, onions, gravy, celery, cream cheese, squash, stuffing, rolls, sweet potato and pumpkin pies, corn, peas, cranberry sauce and sausages—that spanned several grocery stores as far away as Brattleboro, Vt.
“It’s quite a bit of work, but it’s quite a thrill when you go up with 144 boxes of sausages,” he said.
When it came time to distribute the baskets, about a dozen volunteers were present to help, the Recorder reported. The Salvation Army came to pick up 73 baskets, while the remaining 71 were given to local seniors from a list collated by the Sheriff’s Office.
The meal distribution benefits not just the towns of Turners Falls and Greenfield, but the entirety of Franklin County, Czernich stressed. And as long as the community needs help, the club will be there to assist, he added.
“I thought at this time of year, there are people who are down who need help,” he said. “It feels good that you can have the ability to help others.”
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