BCNY’s Annual Thanksgiving Drive!
With Gratitude: The Boys’ Club Spirit
This year, thanks to our generous event co-sponsor, Frederick Joseph, New York Times bestselling author, poet, philanthropist, and We Have Stories founder who raised over $15,000 for this initiative, we distributed turkeys, pork shoulders, and grocery store gift cards to over 300 families. This annual event ensures BCNY’s community of members will share a Thanksgiving meal with their loved ones over the holiday.
We Have Stories
Frederick, a longtime BCNY partner and mentor shared why this event was significant to him: “We Have Stories has always been about community, resilience, and honoring those who came before us. This fall food drive holds a special meaning, as it’s dedicated to my grandmother—a woman whose generosity and love taught me the true power of giving back. Through this partnership with the youth and members of BCNY, we’re not only nourishing bodies but also cultivating a legacy of kindness and unity that my grandmother would be proud of. I’m grateful to everyone who’s contributing to making this drive possible. Together, we’re showing what it means to uplift and support one another.”
“Binding ourselves to something larger, something lasting”
The BCNY community showed out, demonstrating what it means to show up. In the brisk November morning, volunteers from all boroughs, converged to BCNY’s clubhouses in East Harlem and Flushing, some in U-Hauls carrying boxes of turkey and pork shoulder, others in subway cars empty enough to offer some respite from the usual weekday rush. Having arrived with a sense of their duties, they were met with a clubhouse that felt a little warmer, a little brighter than what they remembered the day before. Lining tables with bags of turkeys and pork shoulders, seeing familiar faces and new ones like volunteers from The Hispanic Society of FDNY, the BCNY community prepared to demonstrate with it truly means to be BCNY Strong.
As members and families began to file in, they were met with more than just volunteers ready with food; they were met with their community, welcoming them to a clubhouse filled with music, games, arts and crafts, cooking lessons, popcorn, and warm cider. Here, the BCNY community of members, families, staff, volunteers, and supporters embodied the essence of community, defined eloquently by Frederick Joseph in a recent reflection:
“I’ve said it before, in tones meant to echo through the bone, through the ear, and the marrow of us: the best thing we do as humans, and perhaps the only way forward, is community. Not as a hollow word, but as a living thing—a bond made of shared breath, shared burden, shared hope. Community is what carries us when the ground beneath us crumbles. It is the act of turning an I into a we, of binding ourselves to something larger, something lasting.”
Together, we are BCNY
At BCNY, community is woven into the fabric of everything we do, and our annual Thanksgiving Drive is just one of many events where we can celebrate our community. Thank you to our co-sponsor, We Have Stories, and our volunteers and supporters: BCNY’s Alumni Association, The Hispanic Society of FDNY, Chef Eileen, Heidi from We Have Stories, and Damarcus Adisa, co-founder of The HOSA Fund. You were all on site, lending helpful hands and spreading joy throughout the community. We could not have done it without you all. Together, we are BCNY.