By MIKE CAPUTO
The list included possible ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal, and encouraged customers to donate anything they could to the Kiwanian food drive.
When the man emerged from the supermarket, his cart contained four full bags of groceries. He handed them all over to the Kiwanian, and the only thing left in his cart was the newspaper.
"This man went in to spend 50 cents and came out with 25 dollars' worth of groceries," said Jay Steinmetz, the Kiwanian. "That's what it's all about, and that for us is the greatest gift."
It was the people like the newspaper man - anonymous, behind-the-scenes community donors - who were the backbone of a historical weekend of giving led by the East Meadow Kiwanis last Saturday and Sunday. In just two days, volunteers and donors provided food for a record 95 needy families and served more than 500 Thanksgiving meals to grateful senior citizens.
The weekend was the culmination of weeks of preparation that started with Kiwanians stationed for four-hour shifts outside supermarkets, collecting food donations. The food was stored at the club members' homes and then assembled, with the help of W.T. Clarke High School Key Club students, into baskets at the school on Friday, the night before they were distributed.
"It's like when they blow up the balloons for the Thanksgiving parade," said Alan Hodish, chairman of the holiday basket program.
Steinmetz, who coordinated the food drive and is a past president of the Kiwanis club, said that when he first volunteered 12 years ago, there were 20 families on the list. That number eventually rose into the 70s and 80s, and this year, most likely because of difficult economic conditions, the total increased by about 12 families.
"There are a million different reasons why these people need it, and we don't question it, we don't ask," Steinmetz said.
Steve Sacks, a social worker at Bowling Green Elementary School in Salisbury, explained that suburban poverty tends to be not as obvious as it is in urban areas, and there are many more families that are not on the Kiwanian donor lists that could use help. "There are a lot of families that won't take food even though they're poor," said Sacks, who helped with the deliveries on Saturday morning. "... Poverty in our area is not always that obvious, but it is really there. You open that door and you see people without furniture and they don't have lamps."
Sacks is one of nine social workers in the East Meadow school district who provides Kiwanis with a list of families requesting food. Local churches provide the organization with similar lists. Those lists are then organized into mapped routes for the volunteer delivery people by Kiwanian Mike Litzner.
With help from Virginia Martinez,
Litzner explained the routes to each volunteer as they filed in to pick up their baskets in the Clarke cafeteria on Saturday morning. The entire load of groceries was gone from the cafeteria within 45 minutes.
Litzner, who is familiar with mapping residences from his work as a real estate broker, said the program's efficiency is the result of each individual's talent and contribution. "It is really a team approach," he said. "Everyone grabs a subsection of it, and it's the cumulative effect of those efforts that really make it come together."
Like the other volunteers, Hodish took the last few baskets, added the turkeys stored in a truck parked next to the cafeteria and loaded them into his car. His first stop was an East Meadow family that had made a request for food only days earlier. The family, which requested anonymity, has faced financial struggles recently: the medical costs of the birth of a premature infant, the necessity of feeding other children, and job-related issues.
The baby, said her mother, "has killed us financially - she is a blessing, on the other hand - but I can't go back to work. So this really helped us out a lot."
The woman expressed her gratitude to Hodish and the Kiwanians for their quick response, and said she would now be able to host a Thanksgiving dinner at the family's East Meadow home.
On Sunday, the focus turned to senior citizens. The East Meadow High School cafeteria was the site of an annual luncheon sponsored by the Kiwanians and anchored by volunteers from the school district's Key Clubs and Builder's Clubs. Elementary students participating in Kiwanis's K-Kids program were also on hand to help.
The luncheon, a project headed by Kiwanians Mitchell Allen and Mitchell Skoller, began in the East Meadow kitchen at sunrise, when volunteers started cooking. Senior citizens began strolling into the cafeteria at about 10 a.m., and were served hot meals beginning at 11:30.
All told, more than 500 senior citizens attended the 28th annual luncheon. EMHS Key Club students handled gift wrapping and decorations, and were joined in serving meals to the guests by members of other youth organizations. The East Meadow High School Jazz Ensemble provided the entertainment. Gifts were given to each attendee.
The Kiwanian holiday effort didn't end with the busy weekend. The club is planning another holiday basket delivery on Dec. 20, just before Hanukkah and Christmas. There will be yet another to celebrate Easter and Passover in the spring.
On Christmas Day, Borrelli's Italian Restaurant in East Meadow will close at noon for a special holiday meal for families in need, and the Kiwanians will donate gifts for the children in attendance.
Among club members and students, there seems to be no shortage of dedication to a good cause. "Everybody pitches in," Steinmetz said. "We've been doing this for so many years, it's almost automatic."
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
