The Salvation Army joined shipping and transportation company CMA CGM on Tuesday to distribute 1,000 Thanksgiving turkeys to families in Bushwick.
This is the third consecutive year CMA CGM has partnered with various charity organizations to provide free holiday meals — namely, Thanksgiving turkeys — to communities in need. This year, the company partnered with the Salvation Army, an international Christian charity organization, to make the magic happen.
As New Yorkers continue to buoy themselves to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families have still struggled to provide for their families — even more-so as inflation increases and the cost of living skyrockets. This year, experts say, turkey prices alone have increased by a staggering 73%.
To soften that blow, the Salvation Army and CMA CGM handed out free 14-16-pound antibiotic-free turkeys at the Salvation Army’s Brooklyn Bushwick Corps Community Center.
“This is our first entry into New York City and to Brooklyn for this event,” said Heather Wood, head of sustainability at CMA CGM. “We serve six or seven cities across America. It is a little heartbreaking to see that things are still the same [as they were in the beginning of the pandemic] and aren’t getting better, but we have gone from the pandemic into some inflation and economic hard-times particularly around food and food services and I think that has contributed to the fact that we still have a number of people who are hungry and in need.”
This was perhaps the only way some local families could afford to celebrate the holiday, giveaway organizers said, hopeful that, with the stress of cost out of the way, recipients could breathe a little easier come the holiday.
That was exactly the case for one Bushwick resident in attendance at the Nov. 15 giveaway.
“My brother moved in with us this year and I am so grateful that I stopped by today because now I know for certain that I can feed everyone dinner and not worry about it,” said Alma Padilla. “I’m really happy that we can still celebrate together and I don’t have to stress so much. Everything is too stressful already to worry about this day.”
