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By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

RAVENA — 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 Ravena News-Herald, has been running the Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family program for several years. Through December, a portion of all new subscriptions to the Ravena News-Herald 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 Shop ‘N’ Save in Ravena. “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 Shop ‘N’ Save 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 115 meals to local nonprofit organizations for their clients and a handful to area residents who turned out for the giveaway.

Helping Harvest, a program of Hopefull Life Center, received 20 meals to give out to local families.

“The need has been great this year,” said Rebecca Flach from Hopefull Life Center. “It’s great every year, but this year, with the high grocery prices and fear that is driving a lot of conversation around food right now, I think it really means a lot for families to get additional support.”

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.

For families benefiting from the program, not having to purchase a turkey and side dishes for a Thanksgiving meal helps free up resources for other needs. Myrtle Shutter accepted one meal from the program at Shop ‘N’ Save.

“I’m here to get a bag of food to help feed my family for the holidays,” Shutter said. “This helps my family quite a bit — we won’t have to buy a turkey and worry about all the rest of the meal. That gives us money to get other things that we need.”

Dews initiated the program in a community he worked in previously, and when he wanted to bring it to Ravena, 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 later today in Greenville. 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.”

RCS High School Principal Ryan Funck said he started at the school three years ago and during that time, the number of families helped by the program has grown.

“We’ve had more people each year, so we really appreciate the partnership with TCI and everything that you all do,” Funck told the crowd.

Melanie Collins from Trinity United Methodist Church in Coeymans Hollow accepted four meals on behalf of the church. The church’s food pantry received Thanksgiving supplies for 20 to 25 meals from other agencies, but the Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family meals will be available if a new need should arise.

“This is in case there is an emergency and people have to sign up later,” Collins said. “This means everything to the families — they are very thankful that they don’t have to use those resources and they can put it towards something else that is needed, like fuel, gas, electricity, whatever else they might need.”

Sharon Phillips picked up four meals for parishioners at Grace United Methodist Church in Ravena.

“Because of the generosity here, we are able to help four families with 11 kids total and their parents,” Phillips said. “It’s amazing — they are so grateful.”

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.

It’s important to get involved and help the community when possible, Shop ‘N’ Save manager Kyle Smith said.

“This is our third year doing this. It’s a good thing to help support the town — the town obviously supports us and it’s a good thing to give back and make sure that everyone in town has a Thanksgiving dinner that they deserve,” Smith said. “It’s important to be involved like this.”