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11/17/2022 10:28 AMFor the 16th consecutive year, the East Haven Rotary Club will provide a free full-course meal for residents on Thanksgiving Day.
With the support of Boston Market, residents in need of a hot holiday meal can request one from the Rotary Club, and the Rotary will deliver a traditional holiday meal with all the fixings straight to their door. Deliveries will begin on Thursday, Nov. 24 at 9 a.m.
According to Rotary Secretary and program chair Ashley Lesco, the Rotary Club started the annual holiday meals to help residents who may not have the means or ability to purchase or prepare a Thanksgiving dinner. The Rotary Club started the delivery program in alignment with their effort to be a helping hand to the East Haven community.
“The East Haven Rotary Club started this program 16 years ago this year to help the East Haven residents who were maybe a little down on their luck or who didn’t have anyone to celebrate with,” said Lesco. “So we wanted to make sure that everyone would have a warm plate of food for Thanksgiving.”
By Lesco’s estimate, the Rotary Club expects at least 100 families in East Haven will receive a meal kit, an increase from previous years due to the host of financial and social factors such as inflation and other increased costs at the grocery store and in the home. Prior to its partnership with Boston Market, the Rotary Club handled the Thanksgiving dinner program entirely on its own and as an in-person program with its members, families, and individuals, particularly senior citizens.
“When our program first started, the Rotary did a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner at the senior center. Way back, 16 years ago, people were actually able to come into the senior center, sit down with their family or whoever they came with, and have Thanksgiving dinner,” said Lesco.
“As our members got a little bit older, they decided to enlist the help of Boston Market to actually cook the food,” Lesco continued. “We would actually package and distribute it to the families.”
Delivery by the Rotary Club itself was halted in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, after which Boston Market assumed responsibility for packaging and delivery, after which the possible number of meals that could be distributed capped at 250, according to Lesco. The limited number of deliveries remains the same two years later but won’t stop the Rotary from wanting to help out everyone in need if they could.
“We would definitely do more if we were able to,” Lesco said.
After Boston Market cooks have prepared the food, Rotary Club members bring it to the senior center for packaging and distribution preparation. Members of the Rotary Club will then deliver the meal kits themselves.
A packaged meal, one for each member of a household, consists of traditional Thanksgiving food including turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, a slice of cornbread, and a slice of pie for dessert.
Over the history of the delivery program, the response from East Haven residents has been overwhelming towards their efforts in helping those in need of comfort during the holiday season for whatever reason.
“The residents are so thankful, especially the seniors [and] the families with young children. We do this so that either themselves or their kids have a nice hot meal on the holiday,” Lesco said. We don’t ask for a reason. We assume if you’re calling you do need the food for your family.”
To request a meal, residents should call Rotarian Ashley Lesco at 203-208-8212 or email ehrotarygivesthanks@gmail.com. Requests must be made before Friday, Nov. 18.