By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
GREENVILLE — No one should have to choose between paying rent and feeding their family a nutritious Thanksgiving meal.
Capital Region Independent Media, sponsors and local organizations are doing their part to make sure no one has to in our community.
The company, which publishes the Greenville Pioneer, has been running the Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family program for several years. Through December, a portion of all new subscriptions to the Greenville Pioneer will go towards the program that feeds families on Thanksgiving.
“We do this in all of our papers – we’re doing it in Cobleskill tomorrow, we were in Fair Haven yesterday,” Capital Region Independent Media Vice President and Publisher Warren Dews Jr. said at the annual meal giveaway at Tops supermarket on Route 32 in Greenville. “We can’t do this without our sponsors.”
A team of sponsors contributed to the program to make sure all families can enjoy a tasty Thanksgiving. This year’s sponsors were TCI of New York, Nolan Propane, Crossroads Ford, Carver Companies and Holcim.
“We do this every year,” Dews added. “I put this program together about 15 years ago [in another city] and I think we have fed 20,000 to 30,000 people over the years. This week alone we will probably feed 3,000 to 4,000 people and we couldn’t do it without our sponsors and the organizations. We are getting food to the people that need it.”
Representatives from the sponsor companies attended the meal giveaway at Tops on Thursday.
“We are happy to help out this time of the year,” said Josh Kowalski from Carver Companies. “It’s a great service that Warren [Dews Jr.] and Mark [Vinciguerra] put on and we love to support the community. It’s a great cause and we are so happy to be part of it.”
The program distributed 15 meals that will go to local families.
John and Kathy McAneny accepted five turkey meals for Asbury United Methodist Church. The meals will go to families of students in the Greenville and Cairo elementary schools.
“This will mean a happier and healthier Thanksgiving for these families,” Kathy McAneny said.
Dews brought the remaining 10 meals to a church food pantry in Westerlo.
Each meal consists of a turkey, potatoes, a dozen rolls, cranberry sauce, cans of vegetables and a bottle of soda, and feeds six to 10 people.
Dews initiated the program in a community he worked in previously, and when he wanted to bring it to Greenville, Capital Region Independent Media owner and president Mark Vinciguerra was all in.
“We embraced it right away, and it has fed thousands of area residents,” Vinciguerra said Thursday. “And as we have expanded our company, we expanded the program. Yesterday we were in Fair Haven, Vermont, and we were in Granville, NY, and tomorrow we will be in Cobleskill and earlier today we were in Ravena. It’s just a great program and we couldn’t do it without the support of the sponsors.”
Sponsor TCI of NY developed its own annual tradition around the Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family program — the company has teamed up with RCS High School to deliver meals directly to students and their families.
“We are donating meals so 150 people will be fed,” said John Barr of TCI. “Anything we can do for the schools, it’s our pleasure.”
Brian Hemlock, also of TCI of NY, said his company has been sponsoring the program for several years.
“Warren and his team from the newspaper are absolutely tremendous,” Hemlock said. “To be able to feed, this year alone, through the different communities, 3,000 people — we are just fortunate enough to be able to help and to be a part of this.”
Ron Teator from Crossroads Ford said his company is happy to help provide meals.
“It’s Thanksgiving and not only should we be giving thanks, but if somebody is in need of a helping hand, we should be glad to help out,” Teator said.
