by Alex Lloyd Gross
November 23,2021
Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Many families still have no idea of what they are going to do for the holidays. While there are lots of jobs out there, inflation has run amok. The price of food is skyrocketing. Many people still work for $8.00/hr in some jobs. At the Cornwells United Methodist Church, volunteers were hard at work boxing up food and giving it to people that need it or picking up that food for friends or family that night need it.
Including turkeys. All of the food was donated by retailers such as Shoprite or Acme. Boston Market . In fact, Jay Pandya, owner of Boston Market was front and center giving away his free turkeys.. “I could not be more happy, this is about giving back,” Pandya said. He graduated from Bensalem High School in 1994 and he was ecstatic to come back to where he grew up to help his neighbors. Boston Market is his company. He formed it and watched it grow to what it is today. The company donated over 100 free turkeys that are large enough to feed a family. The Rotary and other organizations donated food or helped distribute it.
The church hosts Harvest Ministries which is responsible for the food drive. It is normally first come first served, but today, people could line up and get numbers. They then could return later when they were told their numbers would be called. By 5:30PM, over 250 families were lined up to get food. Those that did not want a turkey, did not have to get one. There were other meats and produce and canned goods that were donated by retailers.
Local politicians such as Mayor Joe DiGirolamo , his uncle Gene, a Bucks County Commissioner and local State Rep KC Tomlinson and her father, Senator Robert Tomlinson showed up to had out food and check out the operation. Harvest Ministries was busy giving out the food from 1:00PM until 6:00 PM.. The church is located on the 2200 block of Bristol Pike in Bensalem. This was open to residents of Bucks County and Northeast Philadelphia.