As Thanksgiving approaches, the spirit of giving is filling the Morrisville community. SUNY Morrisville has partnered once again with the Morrisville-Eaton Central School (MECS) District to help ensure that local families in need can enjoy a full holiday meal together.
The annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive, started 16 years ago by MECS teacher Meaghan Palmer, continues its mission at a time of increased need. This year brought “more of a need than ever,” reflecting the challenges many households face, including cuts to federal food assistance benefits, said Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins, associate professor of agricultural science at SUNY Morrisville and coordinator of the college’s efforts.
Gilbert Jenkins joined the effort six years ago when she realized SUNY Morrisville had an opportunity to help. “We want the town to know that the SUNY Morrisville community cares,” she said.
This year’s fundraiser brought in nearly $3,000, the most to date. “I'm so thankful for how generous our community is and for how successful the fundraiser was this year,” Gilbert Jenkins said.
Thanks to campus donors and partners at MECS, SUNY Morrisville helped provide produce from four farms, along with milk, cheese, eggs and a $65 gift card to Aldi to 20 local families. Some farms even went a step further — one donated produce, while another significantly reduced its prices to support the effort.
The generous donations collected this year enabled the campus to expand the reach of this effort, and in addition to what was donated to the families connected to MESC, provide full Thanksgiving dinners for three families in need from the college’s Children’s Center and two families connected to the Norwich campus.
“Every year we are moved by the generosity of our campus and community,” Gilbert Jenkins said. “This partnership really shows what Thanksgiving is all about — helping one another.”
The food drive ensures that families have food for Thanksgiving and additional meals during the school break when support services pause.
For Gilbert Jenkins, the effort has become a family tradition. Her husband, Shawn Jenkins, instructional support assistant in the college’s Horticulture Department, and their children, Maya, 14, and Jackson, 11, lend a hand organizing and distributing the donated food.
In addition to assisting the MECS Thanksgiving food drive, SUNY Morrisville continues to address food insecurity on its own campus by holding food and hygiene drives for its students and offering on- and off-campus resources for students experiencing food or housing insecurity.
