Student volunteers helped to bring in and organize the donations Monday. The food was placed into blue Whip City Fiber bags for families of four, and maroon Polish National Credit Union bags for families of two. (Photo by Pete Currier)
WESTFIELD – It will be a Happy Thanksgiving for 250 city families who received turkeys and all the trimmings this week.
Hundreds of pounds of food was collected and donated at Westfield Technical Academy Nov. 25 during its Thanksgiving food drive to benefit families of Westfield school students.
The drive began at 6 a.m. Monday and continued until noon at the WTA. WSKB Radio had hosted a special radio broadcast from the room where the food was being organized where on-air personalities encouraged donations from the public. Throughout the day, deliveries of Thanksgiving food, including turkeys, stuffing, and potatoes were brought to the school and wheeled in to be organized.
According to Acting Mayor Ralph Figy, who assisted with delivering the bags of food to their destinations, the food was being organized and brought to most of the schools in the city. The administrations for the high school, Westfield Intermediate School, Westfield Middle School, and most of the elementary schools identified students and families who may be in need of assistance in having a Thanksgiving meal this year.
A volunteer helps organize Thanksgiving food donations at Westfield Technical Academy. (Photo by Peter Cowles)
Volunteers organize food donations Nov. 25. (Photo by Peter Cowles)
There were 250 bags of food, each organized and filled according to the number of people in each family.
Figy said that they had made a large order at Big Y on Friday to supplement the drive. He noted that donations of turkeys were coming in with large numbers. One hundred turkeys alone were donated by a single anonymous donor. More turkeys were donated by local businesses and some were donated by individual City Councilors.
Susan Figy of Coldwell Bank, who was leading the effort to organize the food, said extra non-perishable foods would be brought to the WTA food pantry
“I’m just overwhelmed with how much has been donated,” said Susan Figy, “I am so grateful for those who gave donations and gift cards early.”
