Local organizations collect donations as Thanksgiving approaches

Multiple organizations in the Center Moriches area are accepting donations as the Thanksgiving season approaches.

The collection drives hosted by local organizations will be accepting primarily food donations.  Some organizations will also be hosting additional charity events both this autumn and next year.  The collected donations will be distributed to local residents who would best benefit from the donations.

The Center Moriches Free Public Library will be accepting donations this fall and may also host additional collection drives during the spring.

“The Friends [of the Center Moriches Free Public Library] group is doing their drive on Oct. 19 to coincide with the paper shredding/waste collection event,” Center Moriches Free Public Library director Marcie Litjens said.  “We typically do drives for food in the spring (March) because we felt so many other organizations do them this time of year.”

The Harbor Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church will be accepting donations in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

“We will be collecting donations for Thanksgiving,” The Harbor Church office manager Jen Schrage said.  “Typically, we put the need out to our congregation.”

“We will be giving out holiday food at our food pantry starting every Tuesday evening during November,” St. John’s Episcopal Church member Gail Strebel added.  “We distribute grocery gift cards for a turkey or other main [course], but we give Thanksgiving-type food in addition to that.  Any donation of either food or gift cards would be greatly appreciated.”

Local charity group Helping Makes U Happy is also hosting a Thanksgiving donation collection drive.

“We always collect and distribute food for Thanksgiving,” Helping Makes U Happy co-founder Cassy Caputo said.  “We donate to families referred to us by various local schools and caseworkers.  We also collect to assist the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office with their Thanksgiving food distribution… We generally give gift cards for purchase of a turkey or preferred meat, as we have discovered that a lot of families don’t have turkey at Thanksgiving, nor do they have storage or sometimes even cooking facilities depending on where they are living.  We also add in some nonperishable breakfast foods to ensure the children who are eligible for free breakfast when school is in session continue to have breakfast through the Thanksgiving break.”

Caputo shared a list of foods that Helping Makes U Happy collects, which included the following:  stuffing mix, boxed mashed potatoes, turkey gravy mix, canned yams, marshmallows, cranberry sauce, canned corn, canned green beans, macaroni and cheese, corn bread mix, applesauce, shelf stable milk, dessert items, and grocery gift cards.

Pastor Tracy Moore of the Center and East Moriches United Methodist Churches also said to contact the church’s food pantry personnel to find out their plans for collections.