Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Chicken giveaway helps the needy
Chicken giveaway helps the needy
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 26, 2008
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Eddie Dillard, of Gleaners Food Bank, loads a van with boxes of frozen chickens, which were to be distributed to the needy. |
Detroit — Just in time for Christmas, 1,000 frozen chickens were given away last week despite a winter storm that all but shut down area roads.
Representatives from various nonprofit organizations, including several Catholic churches, braved the snow last Friday to pick up the chickens, which were then to be distributed to needy families. More than 1,400 chickens were left over from a giveaway by the National Basketball Players Association, the sports union that represents NBA players. The Archdiocese of Detroit's social action office arranged to distribute the thousand, and the remaining 400 were to be distributed by Gleaners Food Bank as needed.
Michael Hovey, director of the Archdiocese of Detroit's Office for Catholic Social Teaching and assistant advisor for ecumenical and interfaith affairs, was present last Friday as boxes of chickens were loaded into cars and vans. Hovey said that after an e-mail went out to Detroit interfaith group MOSES, his phone rang nearly nonstop with nonprofit groups trying to secure chickens.
"It was very gratifying," he said. "So many people need food this year."
He said it was "heartbreaking" that his phone kept ringing after the thousand chickens were spoken for. It's another reminder of what the economic situation in Detroit is, he said.
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Francine Creer and son Matthew, of Gesu Parish's St. Vincent de Paul chapter, brought chickens to the parish for distribution. |
Francine Creer, president of the St. Vincent de Paul chapter at Gesu Parish, Detroit, picked up chickens with her son, Matthew. She said the donation meant "a whole lot" to the people who would be receiving the frozen birds, which she called a "blessing."
"We're getting more and more people" asking for assistance, she said. "People who gave to us, they're coming to us for help now.
"We're finding a lot of people in our parish need help now," she added. "Our 50 families have become 75."
Gesu gives out food baskets of canned and nonperishable goods twice a month, she said, in addition to distributions at Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter. "This is a wonderful gift, in addition to what we already put in our food basket," she said.
Paul J. Sullivan, of the St. Vincent de Paul chapter at Christ the King Parish, Detroit, was picking up chickens the day before his parish's food baskets were going out for Christmas. "Those chickens mean someone's going to eat this Christmas," he said.
His parish also gives away turkeys, but chickens are a good fit for single people or small families, he said. "I just think it's great," he said of the donation. "Whoever donated these things deserves a place in heaven."
Sullivan said he has also seen requests for food increase at his parishes. "People we never thought would be on the list, are on the list," he said.
St. Elizabeth and St. Leo parishes, both in Detroit, were also to receive chickens.
The NBA players' association partners with Feed the Children yearly to conduct food giveaways in NBA cities.
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