Annie Washart, Barbara MacReady and Ellen McCue get into the festive spirit.
Barbara MacReady has deep roots in Philadelphia, but she now lives in Florida. But when she makes her annual trip to the city for the Christmas holidays, one of the reasons she comes back is this: the Hibernian Hunger Project’s annual turkey giveaway.
MacReady is no stranger to Hibernian activities. When she lived in Philly, she used to take part in the annual rolling of Irish potato candies run by Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernian Divisions 87 and 1.
“I was the potato Nazi,” MacReady says of her role as one of the bosses of the annual LAOH fund-raising enterprise. As for the annual project to distribute turkey dinners to the needy, which she took part in from early on, she says, “even though I live in Florida, this is one of the things I have to do.”
MacReady’s not alone. A crowd of volunteers descended upon Shamrock Food Distributors in the Frankford section of Philadelphia early Saturday morning to load of cars, vans, and trucks—anything with wheels—to deliver 160 complete turkey dinners to needy families throughout Philadelphia. Many, if not most of the volunteers have taken part in this Christmas season ritual eight years.
Overseeing it all was Bob Gessler, founder of the Hibernian Hunger Project, working hand in glove with Jim Tanghe, president of Shamrock Food Distributors. Tanghe helps gather and store all of the foods, turkeys and all, in his warehouse off Fraley Street.
“He (Bob) started out doing 25 baskets,” Tanghe said. “I said, ‘Can we double it next year? He said, ‘You’re crazy.’ We doubled it. The next year, I said, ‘Can we double it again?’ He said, ‘You really are nuts.’”
Tanghe said it would be asking a bit much at this point to double 160—but with this crowd, you never know. They’re not very good with the word “impossible.”
The heavy cardboard boxes containing all the fixing for a Christmas dinner—turkey, stuffing, vegetables, butter cookies and more—also include pasta, tomato sauce, mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and other fixings for a few more meals beyond the Christmas feast.
Gessler gives Tanghe a lot of credit for helping to pull this otherwise complicated venture together. “He sets up a place in his freezer for any donations of turkeys we get,” Gessler said. He orders all the stuff for the food baskets, and he has his staff filling the baskets. He’ll order everything for us at wholesale.”
Why do they do it? Why do all of these volunteers turn out on an early Saturday morning—often pretty cold at this time of year—to heft boxes into truck beds, and head off to so many sections of the city, to families living in cramped apartments and row homes, to a women’s shelter, church parishes, a couple of Baptist churches, and more?
Certainly, the need is there, and everyone who joins in the effort acknowledges it. “This is the AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians) helping anyone who need it. We’re just helping.”
But there’s another reason, and it’s a good one, too, Gessler said with a smile. “It’s a totally selfish reason. It makes us feel good.”
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