Organizations across Middle Village and Queens came together on Tuesday for an annual turkey giveaway and food drive at Cross County Savings Bank, making it the most successful operation since it was started 14 years ago.
The partnership of Cross County Savings Bank (CCSB) and the Kiwanis Club of Middle Village successfully handed out 250 turkeys for this Thanksgiving, as well as bags full of the quintessential sides garnered from its food drive to those in need. At the Middle Village branch, the front desk and surrounding area could be seen piled high with bags full of food, and a stocked flatbed loader rolled past the tellers as they worked.
The giveaway started 14 years ago when Middle Village Kiwanis Club Pres. Alphonse “Al” Gentile and Treasurer Diane Marzuillo saw a need for it in the community. The pair are First Senior VP and VP, respectively, at the local bank’s Middle Village location and asked for the bank’s help to start the program. The food drive accepts donations of all sorts, and bags are filled with the traditional stuffing, corn, etc. as well as much-needed items, such as pasta.
“It’s growing each year… as the need grows, we’ve been increasing every year and we try to up it by 10%,” Marzuillo said. “We did a big jump this year.”
In that first year, Gentile delivered the total of 50 turkeys himself and personally spoke to everyone of the recipients. The families Gentile met, who dealt with food insecurity for reasons from layoffs to cancer treatment, spurred him and Marzuillo on to make it a now decade-long tradition. Gentile continued the work even during his own hardships, like in 2018 when he was recovering from heart surgery he received at the end of October.
“It really touches your heart when you meet people. When we first started this endeavor,” Gentile said. “I would go to people’s houses and I was sitting in [their] kitchens for an hour with cancer. It just really, really hit home with me.”
CCSB’s six branches partnered with the local charities around Queens to help distribute the turkeys and other staples of Thanksgiving dinner. Village Barn, the grocery store just across the street, supplied them with the largest turkeys they’ve ever been able to donate, with each one weighing 14-16 pounds. The list of churches, parishes and other charitable organizations include:
- Resurrection Ascension – Our Lady of the Angelus RC Church, Rego Park
- St. Paul the Apostle, Corona
- St. Lucy’s, Brooklyn
- St Pancras, Glendale
- Kiwanis of Rockaway
- Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance, Bronx
- Far Rockaway Mission
- St Margaret’s, Middle Village
- Divine Mercy, Brooklyn
MVRA President Paul Pogozelski says his association has been donating to the operation for around 10 years now, and aided bank employees and volunteers unload and load the large volume of birds. The work of the Kiwanis and CCSB, guided by Gentile and Marzuillo, has not gone unnoticed by those in the community.
“Al Gentile works tirelessly to ensure he is able to get enough donations to support many local charities around the area,” Pogozelski said. “It brought me a lot of joy today to see the smiling faces of the non-profit organizers… we are blessed to be able to give back.”
