Man Donates 200 Turkeys At Annual Long Island Food Drive

BETHPAGE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Long Islanders are getting into the spirit of giving.

People rolled in to the parking lot of the Bethpage Federal Credit Union in Bethpage to drop off turkeys for the 7th Annual Turkey Drive to benefit Island Harvest.

Andy Parton of Wantagh dropped off a 22-pound turkey.

"It's a little frozen, but it should work out well," he said.

The biggest individual donation came from 68-year-old widower Joe Kaczetow of Farmingdale.

He drove in with a van stuffed with frozen birds.

"I was lucky to get 200 turkeys out of King Kullen cause they're in short supply," said Kaczetow, who made the donation in memory of his late wife.

Last year, he donated 80 turkeys.

"It's unbelievable," Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO of Island Harvest. "Imagine 200 families are going to have a very special holiday because of one person."

The goal is to collect 3,000 turkeys by Thanksgiving.

Island Harvest hopes to feed more than 300,000 people, including 110,000 children, this holiday season.

"In a community where we have some of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country, to know that there's so much hunger is crazy," Dresner said. "There are just too many people who are hungry here on Long Island, and it's just something that shouldn't be."

To help the hungry, Long Islanders are asked to donate frozen turkeys, nonperishable food items and supermarket vouchers or cash.

Volunteers will be collecting donations until 6 p.m. Wednesday.