Mayor Wu Announces Efforts to Support Families During the Holidays, Including Annual Turkey Donations

Today, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that the City of Boston is helping families during the holiday season through its annual Thanksgiving turkey distribution, delivering 2,000 turkeys and 5,000 pounds of food to Boston residents in need. This year, the City doubled the number of turkeys donated to community members and organizations compared to last year. The turkey drive is led by the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS) with the support of its neighborhood liaisons to hand deliver turkeys to more than 40 partners including local community organizations, churches, and Boston Housing Authority sites who then distribute to residents experiencing food insecurity. The City is also encouraging residents to participate in the recently launched Nourish Our Neighbors initiative, connecting residents to local volunteer opportunities promoting food justice. Today, Mayor Wu joined liaisons at CommonWealth Kitchen to help pack and prepare the turkey donations. The City received support for turkeys from Stop & Shop, Amazon, and UFCW 1445.

“As we celebrate the special traditions and connection of the holidays, we want to ease the burden for Boston families in need to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving meal,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “I’m grateful to continue our annual tradition of partnering with community groups to get turkeys out to families, and will continue working for food access across all our neighborhoods year-round.”

ONS liaisons and City staff helped deliver turkeys across Boston on Friday, November 17 and Monday, November 20.

“Today, all of these turkeys here mean an awful lot to the residents in our development who can really use an extra pick me up during the holiday,” said Lisa Frazier, Manager at Boston Housing Authority. “I just say thank you to everyone who made this possible for our residents here at South Street. We, the South Street community, appreciate you and say thank you.”

“The City’s Thanksgiving turkey donations is one of our most crucial community centered events of the year. It provides the City an opportunity to extend a warm and direct gesture of giving in the lives of residents in need,” said Office of Neighborhood Services Executive Director Beata Coloyan. “No family in need should go without a nutritious meal on their table in our city any day, but especially during the holiday season.”

“CommonWealth Kitchen is proud to support Mayor Wu's efforts to feed families across the City this Thanksgiving,” said Jen Faigel, Executive Director of CommonWealth Kitchen. “For CWK, it's a natural continuation of our CommonTable meals initiative, which distributed nearly 300K meals for families in need throughout the pandemic, and continues today through our member businesses who are involved in feeding immigrants and refugees all across eastern Massachusetts. As we like to say, ‘if you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.”

The Thanksgiving turkey distribution is one of the City of Boston’s efforts to ensure community members have access to fresh, healthy, and affordable foods. The City of Boston’s Office of Food Justice and Office of Civic Organizing recently launched their Nourish Our Neighbors initiative, a call to action encouraging community members to help receive, sort, pack, and deliver groceries to their neighbors throughout the City to help bridge food access gaps. The Nourish Our Neighbors initiative provides opportunities for residents to volunteer their time in support of community-based food access initiatives throughout the City. Residents can get connected to volunteer opportunities in their neighborhood by completing this form. 

“While this time of year brings food insecurity to the forefront for many, the City of Boston and its community partners are committed to ensuring our residents have equitable access to fresh, nutritious, culturally-relevant foods every day of the year,” said Aliza Wasserman, Director of the Office of Food Justice. “I am grateful to our partners for their steadfast commitment to centering equitable food access that is rooted in community needs.”

The City of Boston encourages residents in need of food resources to call 311 or 617-635-4500. Community members in need can find multilingual Thanksgiving resources at the Office of Food Justice partners’ Thanksgiving Resource Guide. To address ongoing food insecurity refer to the Greater Boston Food Bank’s food pantry finder or call Project Bread’s Food Source Hotline at 1-800-645-8333. 

ABOUT THE MAYOR’S OFFICE OF NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES

The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS) encourages, facilitates, and maximizes citizen input and participation through service requests, neighborhood meetings, mailings, and emergency responses. To report non-emergency issues to the City, residents are encouraged to connect with BOS:311 by dialing 3-1-1 or by downloading the free BOS:311 app on iOS or Android platforms.