Press Releases

Dec 08, 2000
Southampton College Students Lead Thanksgiving Turkey Drive

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

A unique local food drive is starting to become a popular tradition at Southampton College of Long Island University. Now in its second year, a student-run program called "Turkey for You, Turkey for Me" helped provide the meat for hundreds of local Thanksgiving meals.

Pictured (l-r): Southampton College students Tanya Bean and Josh Siegell, Waldbaum's manager Dennis Smith, and students Jessica Everett, Greg Mataronas and Rachel Finkel.

The program debuted last year when Southampton College students working on a community service project had called Southampton Waldbaum's manager Dennis Smith and worked out a plan: Store receipts the students gathered on campus could be counted toward free turkeys from the store. The food was then donated to the Human Resources program at Sacred Hearts Church in Southampton, and the turkeys were used at their annual Thanksgiving Dinner for local elderly and needy.

So why not try it again this year? Led by environmental science major and dorm coordinator Tanya Bean, students again publicized their turkey drive on campus and went dorm to dorm and office to office to collect the receipts -- and they did even better than last year, gathering enough Waldbaums receipts to qualify for 25 free turkeys. Ten other people on campus donated free-turkey coupons they had received from other stores to bring the turkey total to 35. Last year, Southampton College students collected enough receipts to qualify for 16 turkeys.

"When we started the program this year we were hoping to match last year's contribution, but we never expected to more than double it," Bean said. "It's very gratifying to know that when a college community comes together we really can make a difference in society. We hope this program becomes a Southampton College tradition."

The turkey drive is one of dozens of Residence Life public-service programs Southampton College students perform each year. Other recent programs have included beach cleanups, building of recycling bins on campus, breast-cancer walks, a blanket drive for the homeless and a drive to collect holiday toys for underprivileged children.