Stew Leonard's Turkey Brigade gives out 400 Turkeys to organizations in need

The event welcomed politicians, law enforcement and first responders to hand out the Thanksgiving staple.

Lauren Del Valle

Nov 21, 2024, 10:23 PM

Updated 3 days ago

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Stew Leonard's hosted its 45th annual Turkey Brigade Thursday morning to assist local families in need.
The event welcomed politicians, law enforcement, and first responders to hand out the Thanksgiving staple.
"[Stew Leonard's gives] over 3,000 turkeys across our eight stores, which will feed over 50,000 families for the holidays," said store director of the Yonkers Stew Leonard's location, Andrew Hollis.
According to Feeding Westchester, one in three households in Westchester County are at risk for hunger. This event looks to combat that figure.
The YWCA was one of the nonprofits to pick to pick up some of the turkeys at Stew Leonard's.
It used some of the turkeys provided by Stew Leonard's, alongside other non-perishable food items, to create Thanksgiving bags for people in need.
"We're very passionate on making sure our family and our children are not hungry on Thanksgiving Day," said director of programs at the YWCA, Juan Rogers.
He says this year, there's been an increase of people who stopped in around this time for food, including Zaneda Darden, a mother of seven kids who stopped by to pick up her bag.
"It's a big help cause I was like, 'wait, how am I going to get the Turkey?' You know?" Darden said, "So this to me was like a blessing because now I'm about to put a meal, I didn't think I was going to be able to prepare."
Overall, the Turkey Brigade gave away all 400 turkeys in total at its Yonkers location, showing just how in demand Thanksgiving items are this year.
In continuing the Turkey Brigade tradition, Stew Leonard's hopes to giveaway even more turkeys next year.