Annual Brentwood event offers warm meal, good company for those who need it most
Marco Gonzalez sat at a table Wednesday in a Brentwood gym during a Thanksgiving meal giveaway, thankful for what he had but missing whom he had lost.
Gonzalez, of Brentwood, said that after the death of his wife last year, he was grateful for the holiday meal that included rice, meat and mashed potatoes, though it’s a change of pace from the large meals at his house when they would host nieces and other loved ones.
Now, he says, the house is not like it used to be when his wife was there.
“You never know how much you miss someone until when they’re not there,” Gonzalez, who also has health issues, said. “And that’s why I came here.”
Gonzalez was among a handful of men, women and children, some of them unhoused, who trickled into the La Espiguita Soccer Academy in Brentwood for a meal.
County Legis. Samuel Gonzalez, whose office was one of the sponsors of the event, said that while many people are doing well, others are going through difficult times.
“Those moments of having a hot meal and those moments of just coming together and eating all together on a table, you know, brings that joy, no matter how minimal,” he said. “But it’s a joy that we bring back to those that are in need.”
Bay Shore residents Luis Conde and Javier Rivera take in an early Thanksgiving meal at the La Espiguita Soccer Academy in Brentwood on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Food was only part of what was on the menu Wednesday. This was the fifth year of the event, which also serves as a bridge between people and services that might make a difference in their lives.
Ray Tierney, the Suffolk County district attorney, said many people are not aware of the services that prosecutors’ offices can provide, including victim services. They also might not know that their citizenship status is not a prerequisite for the office to help people in need of protection, he said.
Tierney said this event allows those conversations with the community.
“You’re introducing yourselves in the office and you're explaining exactly what it is that we do," he said.
Laurette Mulry, attorney-in-charge at the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, which was one of the sponsors, said providing a meal and connecting people with services such as those provided by social workers can help divert someone away from the court system.
“Events like this get us out there with the people [and] let them know we’re here to serve,” she said.
Javier Rivera said he heard about the event after someone told him he should stop by.
It meant a free meal and something more for the Bay Shore man. Recently, he said, he was laid off from his job in maintenance after working there for more than three years, though he hopes his employers will bring him back.
Despite the changes, he said he's thankful because he’s not hungry and he gets to be around other people in a warm place.
“[I’m] just being grateful that I’m here,” he said.
With Shari Einhorn
Education: Howard University
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.
Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation; New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting; Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.
