By Aiden Lorenzo
Since 2020, Sayville’s Community Ambulance Company has been dedicated to donating turkeys to Veterans as a way of giving back to the community during the holiday season. For the past four years, the turnout has seemingly been bigger and bigger, and this year has proven to be no exception.
Sponsored by several local companies including The Wayward, DSS, North Shore LIJ, and Suffolk Credit Union, the turkeys are usually acquired by a means of splitting the costs between the ambulance company and the sponsors, depending on how many turkeys they get each year.
The Messenger had the opportunity to speak to Jamie Atkinson, current director and board vice president of Community Ambulance.
“We have a very close relationship with our VFW hall next door and seeing how we have a large population of Veterans in our community, we decided to very wisely give back and give to the Veterans,” said Atkinson. “We started this program to make sure these Veterans have a great thanksgiving.”
Since the program’s start, it seems that more and more turkeys have been given away to the Veterans. One person who can attest to this is former board president and fellow board member, Mike Duffy.
“Last year, we received hundreds of turkeys, and it looks like this year, we might be doing even better,” said Duffy. “Every year, it seems we get more and more, especially with word-of-mouth around the neighborhood and it seems like more and more people are coming out.”
This event is, of course, run in conjunction with VFW Post 433, the next-door hall that helps promote the turkey donation. And aside from their endorsement and promotion, Community Ambulance has taken to different methods of spreading the word including social media, physical fliers, and their most common use: word of mouth.
The four aforementioned companies all collaborate with Community Ambulance in order to spread awareness and split costs on the turkeys. The Messenger also spoke with Mary Theresa of Suffolk Credit Union regarding their involvement with this turkey drive.
“We are very community driven. We really like to give back to the community surrounding our areas and it’s actually one of the most important things we do,” said Theresa. “Our members are very important to us and our members are the community, so it makes sense for us to do as much with the community as we can.”
Overall, Community Ambulance’s Turkey Drive is a great way to not only give back to the community, but it is also a great way to support veterans and ensure that they have a happy Thanksgiving without having to spend large amounts of money on it.
Community Ambulance is located at 420 Lakeland Avenue in Sayville. They are open 24 hours a day. To learn more about them, visit www.communityamb.org.
