Thanksgiving Food Assistance Coming Courtesy Of Our Lady Of Lourdes

MASSAPEQUA PARK, NY. — The Parish Outreach at Our Lady of Lourdes has prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner assistance for over 150 families thanks to donations from the community and the parish, Parish Outreach Director Leslie Gretschel said in an interview Tuesday.

The food assistance is part of an annual initiative at the church, Gretschel said, undertaken with the support of the priests at Our Lady of Lourdes, including the full support of the church’s pastor, monsignor Jim Lisante. While the parish outreach accepts donations year-round, Gretschel noted in a Tuesday conversation that parishioners have stepped up their giving, especially since the federal government shut down at the beginning of October.

“I will tell you that the parishioners here at Our Lady of Lourdes are extremely generous. And, I think that their generosity doubled since the government shutdown, and they realized that people are hurting and are coming to the parish outreach more than once a month,” Gretschel said. “We’re a once a month pantry, and of course we have folks coming, and knocking on the door. And, of course we will send no one away without some kind of subsidy, some kind of bag of food for themselves and their family. So I would just say we have registered about 150 families for Thanksgiving, and I expect more to come to the door, because people, word gets out into the community and people will come to the door asking for assistance.”

As for what’s in the boxes, Gretschel said they include breakfast and lunch staples, as well as traditional Thanksgiving dinner fixtures like cornbread, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and stuffing.

“We sort of met a long time ago and decided it would be sort of a breakfast, lunch, dinner type of thing for Thanksgiving,” Gretschel said. “So, for breakfast, we include pancake mix, pancake syrup and hot cocoa. For lunch, it’s pasta and pasta sauce. And then, of course, for dinner, folks will get everything that you would include in a Thanksgiving dinner. So, a couple of cans of vegetables, some cranberry sauce, pumpkin, apple sauce, fruit salad, macaroni and cheese, turkey gravy, and some candy, some dessert. And we also provide a gift card for people to help purchase their turkey or ham. We do receive a few turkeys and a few hams, but we don’t really do perishable items here at our lady of Lourdes. We’re a nonperishable food pantry.”

Gretschel has been working at the parish outreach for eight years, starting in 2018 as a volunteer before taking on her current role. It was a bit of a change for Gretschel, whose previous career stops included 18 years as a Wall Street administrator.

When asked what keeps her getting up and coming to work at the parish outreach — which also provides diapers and formula to families with babies, consolation to parishioners who have lost loved ones, and mobility items like canes, walkers and wheelchairs to elderly members of the community — Gretschel said it’s all about the community at the parish where she has been a parishioner for over 50 years.

“Without them, I can’t do what I do here. None of us can. None of my volunteers, or the staff, can continue to do what we do here,” Gretschel said. “So, of course, seeing the folks that donate is always a joy, without them we can’t do anything. And, of course, getting to know some of our clients, who are wonderful folks; kind, good people, who are really working hard and need some help…It’s not so much about myself, it’s trying to bring into the community the spirit of Jesus and what we believe needs to be done. And we try to do the best we can.”

Donations to the parish outreach food pantry can be delivered to the church, located at 855 Carmans Road in Massapequa Park. While the parish is collecting donations for Thanksgiving through Wednesday, Gretschel noted that the parish also prepares food benefits around Christmas time, helping feed families at the holidays and year-round.

“If folks can’t get up right now for Thanksgiving, we certainly will accept donations all the way through Christmas and all the way throughout the whole year,” Gretschel said. “People are hungry all year long, so we appreciate donations all year.”