On Monday, November 24, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and former New York Knicks star John Starks kicked off the holiday season by distributing a thousand Thanksgiving turkeys and seven tons of trimmings—apples, collard greens, baking potatoes and sweet potatoes— to representatives of nearly a hundred Brooklyn community groups at Borough Hall Plaza. Several Lions Clubs from Brooklyn and other volunteers helped distribute the food that will provide Thanksgiving meals for needy Brooklynites at senior centers, soup kitchens, churches, and women’s shelters across the borough.

Generous sponsors for this year’s event included FreshDirect, Amalgamated Bank, Con Edison, the Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn Business Improvement District, Fairway Market, the Fulton Street Mall Improvement Association, Health Plus, the Korean-American Brooklyn Association, Rent-A-Center, The Salaam Club of New York, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods Market.

“Let’s make this holiday a meaningful one,” said BP Markowitz, who also urged the gathering to help feed those less fortunate not just during the holidays, but all year long. “The true spirit of Thanksgiving is about sharing the bounty of the harvest, and I would like to think events like this one show that, as Brooklynites, we can count on one another in times of need. So let’s keep that spirit going all year—after all, it’s the Brooklyn thing to do.”