Goodwin University Turkey Drive with Connecticut Foodshare

We spoke with Eric Emet, Assistant Dean of Students at Goodwin University, about the annual turkey drive, Thanksgiving for All, with Connecticut Foodshare on Wednesday, November 12 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.  at the Goodwin University campus. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning, thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison Demurz. My guest this morning is Eric Emmett. He
is Assistant Dean of Students at Goodwin University.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, Good morning Alison.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
You have a wonderful event that's coming up. It's the
Goodwin University Turkey Drive. What's happening, well, thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
We have our this is our tenth in a row.
We didn't miss during COVID, which is kind of a
testament to our social distancing skills. But on Wednesday the twelfth,
between eight and one, we will be collecting turkeys in
partnership with Connecticut Food Share over at the Andy clar

(00:46):
co Op at one sixty seven Riverside Drive. That's right
before you get to the main building at Goodwin University.
That's where we have our food and clothing pantry. We'll
be there setting up around seven thirty. Folks will pull
up and ask us to take a couple of turkeys
out of their trunks or cornish hens or chickens. We've

(01:08):
got some turkey loafs that are made out of tofu
that are generally delivered by some folks. So yeah, we
cover all the bases, but that's coming up this Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I love that and I'm going to be there too
from eight to one, So everybody come on down. I
would love to meet you and help this great cause.
Why does Goodwin hold an annual Turkey drive.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
So organizationally, the President of the University of Mark Scheinberg
is very mindful of food and security amongst college students.
The Goodwin University population as a meeting age of twenty
nine years old. So our students aren't your eighteen to
twenty four year olds coming right out of high school.
Most of our students are working adults with family and

(01:57):
taking classes. We don't want the decision of do I
buy a textbook or do I buy groceries this week
to hinder somebody's opportunity. So the president, doctor Thurmer, who
heads up our Business, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing School, put
together this plan for a co op or a food

(02:17):
pantry several years ago. Andy Clark, our provost Amerida. She
retired a couple of years ago. She's chair of the
board down the University of Bridgeport, our sister school, so
she was a huge proponent and sponsor to get this going.
So we really are mindful that many of us are

(02:41):
very fortunate and know where our next meal is coming from. However,
there's a super super large chunk of the population, especially
in the current situation that's happening, where they don't know
where their next meal is coming from. And the university
really wants to ensure that they can stay focused and
hopefully continue their studies, but in this you know, in

(03:01):
the same fashion, feed their families as well, and.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
That's why the drive is especially important this year.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, I think you know, we've we've said it post COVID.
The economy has been great, and we've we've really kind
of crossed our fingers and said, you know, hope, maybe
we'll get twenty, maybe we'll get thirty. And each year
we end up with around one hundred turkeys. But we
do know that we have again, we we serve a

(03:29):
working adult student, so we were worried about, you know,
with snap and some of the we we are an
employed snapping in t school, so we have students that
are on SNAP taking programs. But what we want to
make sure is that that we have the support services

(03:49):
in place, particularly this year, where some might have been
you know, adjusted or eliminated and we won't know that
until we actually do. You know, we meet with the
students and they come to us sharing sharing that information
because it's not part of their academic record, but we

(04:11):
want to try to intervene and be as minimally invasive
as possible in doing that. But it's it's very it's
a personal and private matter for some students. So we
treat our co op as of Odega, where it's a bright,
open space. It's not in the basement of a church.

(04:33):
Students can pop in and out grab something. So we're
just trying to destigmatize food and security, and I think
this year is pretty important to try to get that
message out there to our students and their families.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
So people can also stop by with the donation if
they don't have a turkey or some kind of other
bird or something to eat.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, absolutely, we have we have cash donations, we have
we venmo. I also want to say we take children's clothing,
we take diapers. Those are all things that we distribute
out of the co op as well, so it doesn't
necessarily have to be a turkey. But we have a

(05:15):
goal of one hundred with Connecticut Food Share and we
hit that pretty much every year.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
I'm speaking with Eric Emmett. He is Assistant Dean of
Students at Goodwin University. The turkey drive is Wednesday, November twelfth,
from eight to one. It's located at one sixty seven
Riverside Drive in East Hartford for good Win University. And
I'm going to be there, so please stop by. Bring
a turkey at chicken or a toe food kind of bird,
whatever you said, or a donation. It's going to help

(05:45):
food share, it's going to help the students and the community. Eric,
thank you so much for being here today and for
serving the community.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Thanks so much for having me. I'll soon and I'll
see you on Wednesday morning.