MONTAGUE — Members of the Franklin County Opioid Task Force, state Rep. Steven Kulik, and organizers from Montague Catholic Social Ministries spent Tuesday evening handing out frozen turkeys to families in need.
The group had 40 turkeys to hand out, the last batch of a total 200 turkeys they have handed out over the last five days. The turkeys were purchased by the task force, which had pooled its donations to purchase them at cost from Big Y.
The idea came because the task force was looking for a way to have an impact on the community with the donations, which come in addition to the operating budget the task force has from the state.
Tess Jurgensen, operations coordinator for the task force, said that they initially planned to target the addiction recovery community and it spread beyond that to families in need. The task force partnered with local social services providers to help distribute the turkeys to families who may need them.
Each turkey also came with thawing instructions in either English or Spanish.
In addition to the Catholic Social Ministries, the task force also partnered with the Greenfield Salvation Army, the Recover Project, Valuing Our Children, New England Learning Center for Women in Transition, Community Action and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to give the turkeys away.
Jurgensen said that the holidays can often be a stressful time for those who have addictions or are in recovery, or have family members with addictions.
“We thought this might be a nice way to relieve some of that stress, and to just try to help as many families as we can,” she said.
Susan Mareneck, of Montague Catholic Social Ministries, said they have had a long partnership with the task force, and were excited to be involved in the turkey drop off.
“A lot of our families have a lot of the issues that the Opioid Task Force works on,” she said.
Kulik and Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan were also in attendance at the drop-off. Sullivan, a co-founder of the Opioid Task Force, applauded the program and the partnership between the Catholic Social Ministries and the task force.
“This is a classic example of a community that helps others,” Sullivan said.
Miranda Davis can be reached at
413-772-0261 ext. 280 or
mdavis@recorder.com.