Mets deliver Thanksgiving to local families

As Thanksgiving approaches, the Mets are working with the community to make sure New York families can still celebrate the holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mets Foundation is donating 4,000 turkeys to local families in need for Thanksgiving this year. The team is delivering those turkeys to local community groups and food pantries across the New York City area.

On Monday, the Mets assembled and delivered 300 complete Thanksgiving meals to one of their community partners in Queens, New Immigrant Community Empowerment. They'll send NICE 300 more turkeys on Wednesday.

The Thanksgiving meals will be distributed to families across Queens.

"It's an amazing opportunity," NICE's Francisco Tecaxco said. "Our community is extremely grateful, because these are critical times. We are five minutes away from Elmhurst Hospital, which was the center of the pandemic. A lot of our community members lost a lot of loved ones during the pandemic. And because of the pandemic, they weren't able to work these last eight months.

"So with this turkey donation, it brings them a little joy and hope for the upcoming year, that they'll be able to celebrate Thanksgiving; that apart from everything that has happened, they're going to have a turkey and be able to have a little gathering."

NICE is a nonprofit that helps vulnerable immigrant workers and their families, many of whom are newly arrived. NICE especially works with day laborers, domestic workers and construction workers, many of whom haven't been able to work during the pandemic and save money for the slower winter season, when a lot of construction sites are closed.

The Mets have partnered with NICE since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March. They donate about 200 bags of food each week, which includes canned food, vegetables and more to give out to the community. This week's Thanksgiving meal donation is part of the team's ongoing work with the organization in Queens.

"We are extremely grateful with the New York Mets, because they haven't forgotten the community," Tecaxco said. "We are six train stops from them, and they have been supporting a heavily impacted community throughout the whole pandemic. For a team to do that, it just shows how committed they are to the community surrounding them."