This weekend, as President Donald Trump met with New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced her resignation, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was not in Washington.
Rather, she was back home in her New York district, distributing turkeys.
Ocasio-Cortez hosts a turkey distribution annually, feeding families and workers in need around the Thanksgiving holiday.
Last year, her team gave away over 1,000 turkeys, which was double that of the year before. This year, they reported that 1,600 turkeys were given away.
“Thanks to your grassroots support, we have been able to distribute 1,600 turkeys to families in the Bronx ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday,” the congresswoman’s campaign shared on Instagram.
“We must come together in community in these moments to care for one another and remember, we are the bridge to the society we want to become.”
Most of the donations were funded by supporter dollars, which Ocasio-Cortez has also used to host backpack drives and other community events as a form of campaigning.
“We have been able to provide over 1,600 turkeys in the Bronx, and then all of your support and fundraising has raised an additional $20,000 above our raise goal, which we are giving 100% to local food pantries to help feed families this Thanksgiving,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a vlog-style video.
She took viewers along as she and her team of volunteers moved throughout the Bronx and Queens to get turkeys to people in need — including halal turkeys in the Throgs Neck neighborhood, too.
“In addition to donations — check this out,” she said in the video. “We’ve got so many volunteers here that are making this work. This is incredible.”
A long line of cars set off to different parts of the borough, after loading up with palettes of turkeys and other donated food, as Ocasio-Cortez said, “to make sure these are distributed far and wide.”
At one stop at First Baptist Church in Queens, Ocasio-Cortez spoke with community leader Rev. Patrick Henry Young.
“It’s exciting to have our wonderful congresswoman, who has done tremendous work in our community,” he said. “We’re feeding thousands of families — not just on this day, but we feed every Saturday.”
The reverend invited any community member to join in church celebrations and future food distributions, too, while finally thanking Ocasio-Cortez for her work.
While the congresswoman’s name and campaign are attached to these offerings, it’s clear they are a community-wide effort.
Community organizations Grow NYC, Corona Mutual Aid, Street Vendor Project, and more, were out alongside Team AOC over the weekend.
“With your help,” Ocasio-Cortez addressed constituents, “we can keep it going.”
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Header image courtesy of Team AOC
