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Red Cross meals ‘ready to go’ at Riverhead County Center

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTOS | Red Cross volunteer Sandra Wilmore packing meals at the Riverhead County Center Sunday morning.

Local volunteers braced the brisk weather Sunday to help dish out meals to local families at the Red Cross feeding station site at the Riverhead County Center.

Tony Distefano of Islandia-based Whitsons Culinary Group, food and school lunch supplier, organized the volunteer effort with

Each meal includes milk, a sandwich, coleslaw and snack.

the Red Cross and said over 1,000 families received meals Saturday at the county center. That figure includes people visiting the feeding station, as well as meals that were delivered.

Each meal includes milk, a sandwich, coleslaw and snack. Mr. Distefano’s group has also set up two other feeding stations in Mastic Beach and Hauppauge.

“Things are going good,” he said Sunday about the volunteer effort. “We’ve got 6,600 meals in each location ready to go.”

Mr. Distefano said about 10 volunteers from the local community showed up Saturday after a bus of volunteers from the city didn’t arrive. He expects more to volunteers to help out today. There’s no dire need for more hands, but volunteers who show can help hand out food, freeing up Red Cross workers to drive to those in need who can’t make it to the center.

Red Cross volunteer Sandra Wilmore packed up the Red Cross truck Sunday morning to deliver meals to neighborhoods surrounding the Peconic Bay and said she would later deliver food to the Bay Shore area.

The county center is located at 210 Center Drive in Riverside. Hours for Sunday and Monday are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Mr. Distefano said the Riverhead location is not accepting any donations. To donate by phone, call 1-877-REDCROSS (1-877-733-2767), ext. 2617.

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