All over the city, New Yorkers spent at least a part of their Thanksgiving Day serving food to fellow New Yorkers, cooked or donated by local residents, organizations, churches and restaurants. Chief Master Sabu and the Humble School of Martial Arts hosted his 37th annual Humble Thanksgiving feeding festivity in Restoration Plaza in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn. A steady stream of people was matched by the flow of food brought in by residents, many of whom stayed to serve the people. The scene was replicated all over the city, as in the Rev. Michael Walrond’s First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, which hosted a “Fancy Thanksgiving Meal for 1,000 Needy New Yorkers.” They promised and delivered that at this show of love. “There are no soup kitchen lines—no assembly line, no spoonsful of food slopped onto plates,” the church announced. “The church is transformed into a restaurant—tablecloths, menus, waiters and hosts in uniform, and table service complete with turkey and trimmings. Hundreds of volunteers sacrifice their holiday to serve, and congregants make homemade dishes for the meal … for people in need of a hot meal. Other volunteers will drop off meals for the elderly and homebound.”
And in what is also another annual tradition, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network opened its doors on 145th Street uptown to feed hundreds. Politicians and activists such as City Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, National Urban League President Marc Morial and Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, joined Sharpton with aprons and ladles to feed members of the community.