SUFFOLK COUNTY, New York – Montauk Bus LLC hosted its annual Turkey Drive on Saturday, November 19th, 2022. Montauk Bus distributed donated turkeys and nonperishable food items to its employees and neighboring families, and the William Floyd School District.
The Montauk Bus annual Turkey Drive began as a tradition over 40 years ago by the late Founder of the company, John Mensch, and is continued by the family lineage through Linda Plourde, current Owner and President. Each year, the family gathers roughly 400 turkeys and countless nonperishable items to first distribute to the employees across Montauk Bus, from drivers and matrons to administrators and mechanics.
“Thanksgiving is a time for giving, sharing, and being around family and friends,” said Linda Plourde. “We are thankful and appreciative of all our employees – they are a part of our family.”
The morning of the Turkey Drive, all the items were gathered at Montauk Bus’s Center Moriches yard and prepared for pickup by 10:45am, available all day. Some employees pay it forward and donate their turkey along with other items to be distributed to other families in need.
For 23 years, Montauk Bus has also partnered with William Floyd School District, donating a bundle of turkeys to be given out to parents and families. Each holiday season, Linda and the Montauk Bus family works with Dawn Tirelli, Psychologist at Tangier Smith Elementary School, to provide or subsidize items that would help the families in Floyd School District.
Food drives are hosted across each grade level, assigning different food items to be collected by each grade.
“How many turkeys do you need this year?” Dawn Tirelli explains that Linda would make the annual, expected call.
The endeavor then becomes a community team effort. Montauk Bus delivers the donated turkeys to the school. The lunch staff and neighboring restaurants would allow them to store the turkeys in their freezers till it was time to be distributed. The donated items are then organized into food baskets and made for pickup at the school’s bus ramp. “Many of our families don’t have transportation, so we would also do many deliveries,” Dawn explained.
Every Thanksgiving season, Montauk Bus and the eastern Long Island community come together to give back to their employees, students, and neighbors, providing thanksgiving dinners to people in need.
“It takes a village,” Dawn concludes.
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Adena finds refuge in fitness and is exploring weight training and conditioning. She enjoys creative endeavors of all sorts, but her home is in writing and dance.