TURNERS FALLS — Thomas Memorial Golf & Country Club and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s TRIAD team joined forces to put together 144 Thanksgiving dinner baskets, distributing them on Monday to charities and senior citizens.
This was the golf club’s third year assembling baskets to give out Thanksgiving week. The organization raised $3,900 this year through a golf tournament and collected additional check donations from local businesses. Organizer Chet Czernich estimated the amount of food distributed will be enough to feed 800 people.
Czernich said the 144 baskets assembled this year, an increase from the second year’s 130 and the first year’s 48, was an unfortunate new record. He expressed that it upset him to know so many people are in need.
“We were hoping it would be lower, to see that things were getting better,” he said of the basket quantity, “but we knew it would be higher.”
At the same time, he said putting in effort to help is something the golf club takes pride in. He recounted his search for cheap food items and ingredients — turkeys, potatoes, onions, gravy, celery, cream cheese, squash, stuffing, rolls, sweet potato and pumpkin pies, corn, peas, cranberry sauce and sausages — that spanned several grocery stores as far away as Brattleboro, Vt.
“It’s quite a bit of work, but it’s quite a thrill when you go up with 144 boxes of sausages,” he said.
Come time for distribution on Monday morning, about a dozen volunteers were present to help. The Salvation Army came to pick up 73 baskets, while the remaining 71 were given to local seniors from a list collated by TRIAD.
Czernich emphasized that the meal distribution benefits not just Turners Falls and Greenfield, but the entirety of Franklin County. He said that as long as the community needs help, the golf club will be there to assist.
“I thought at this time of year, there are people who are down who need help,” he said. “It feels good that you can have the ability to help others.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.