Queensborough Community College held its annual Thanksgiving food distribution Tuesday, Nov. 22. Over 200 frozen turkeys were given away to students on a first-come, first-served basis.
In addition to receiving the turkey, each student was also gifted a bag of perishable and non-perishable food. The event, held annually by Queensborough Community College since 2016, was organized this year in partnership with GrubHub.
Queensborough Community College’s food pantry was first established in 2016. Known as the Lucille A. Bova Food Pantry, it is now fully refurbished and centrally located in the lobby of the campus’s administration building. This allows for it to be more easily visible and accessible to students. Since 2021, over 2,500 Queensborough students accessed the pantry to pick up non-perishable food items, more than 400 students received local supermarket gift cards and another 500 students received pre-packed food bags.
“This event is very important and you can tell from the fact that we had 250 turkeys to give away and over 250 students to register, so we had a waiting list for turkeys,” said Queensborough Community College President Dr. Christine Mangino. “Any student can come up and get a bag of food. Our faculty and staff feel really good being able to help the students in this way.”
According to Dr. Mangino, food distribution events like this were held on a monthly basis throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with most students and classes back on campus, these events are held exclusively during the holidays, including Thanksgiving.
Dr. Mangino emphasized the importance of being able to help many of her school’s students and their families. This food distribution is providing Thanksgiving meals for families who may otherwise have trouble affording to get the food.
