Eat, drink and give thanks

While obsessing about our Thanksgiving meals, we often forget the true purpose of the holiday: to give back.

Next week, why not get into the spirit of the season by supporting a restaurant or supermarket that helps the city and its people?

Note that many restaurants have limited hours on Thanksgiving, so be sure to call ahead.

Restaurants giving back on Thanksgiving
Casimir
103 Ave. B, 212-358-9683
www.casimirrestaurant.com
This East Village bistro is packing a fixed number of Thanksgiving meals in to-go containers and handing them out to the homeless. For Thanksgiving Day, they’ll offer a limited menu selection or three-course prix-fixe for $19.95.

Crudo
235 W. 35th St., 212-695-9001
This Caribbean spot is offering complimentary appetizers on Thanksgiving to guests that donate to youth development organization Harlem RBI. A full menu is available on Thanksgiving.

Emporio
231 Mott St., 212-966-1234
The Italian restaurant will donate five percent of their Thanksgiving proceeds to Bowery Mission. A Thanksgiving four-course prix-fixe is $45.

The Oak Room at the Plaza
10 Central Park South, 212-758-7777
Will donate a portion of their sales on Thanksgiving to the Central Park Conservancy. The prix-fixe Thanksgiving dinner menu is $95.

Stores that give back
Whole Foods Markets
All Whole Foods Manhattan stores work with local charities, but its Bowery store has donated so much food to the Bowery Mission that they’ve received a Good Neighbor Award. This year, the Bowery store is donating hundreds of pounds of stuffing, cranberry sauce, pies and apple cider. The market is also donating 500 apples and giving a 10 percent discount to the Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s annual pie bake at the Bowery Mission. Some of the pies will be sold to raise money for the AIDS Orphans Support Trust group in Africa.

Brooklyn Fare
200 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn, 718-243-0050
Brooklyn Fare will be donating food such as turkeys and stuffing to homeless shelters such as the Salvation Army on Thanksgiving.

Stuffed Artisan Cannoli 176 Stanton St., 212-995-2266
Buy anything in the bakery’s signature pink flavors, and the proceeds will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the foundation dedicated to breast cancer research. Pick up traditional pumpkin pie and apple pie cannoli for Thanksgiving and buy a pink cannoli as goodwill.

FreshDirect
A $50 donation on FreshDirect’s site will translate into a holiday meal for eight. The program is done through a partnership with the Robin Hood Foundation, and the goal is to feed 120,000 hungry New Yorkers. Robin Hood supplies more than 1,000 pantries and soup kitchens. This Friday, FreshDirect will make its first drop to the Association to Benefit Children.

Year-round do-gooders
Aldea (31 W. 17th St.) does at least one charity event every calendar quarter. This year they have participated in City Harvest, Share Our Strength and Autism Speaks.

Bar Breton (254 Fifth Ave.) has earmarked five percent of its annual profits to a different charity each year. For 2009, it's Citymeals-on-Wheels.

Landmarc (179 W. Broadway; Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle) donates food to City Harvest once a month and is also involved with the REST initiative, a nonprofit organization bringing massage therapy to chemotherapy patients started by Landmarc chef Marc Murphy's wife, Pamela Schein Murphy.

Rosa Mexicano (1063 First Ave.; 61 Columbus Ave.; 9 E. 18th St.) participates in in City Harvest Bid Against Hunger and Summer in the City campaigns.

Trattoria Cinque (363 Greenwich St.) donates regularly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Virgil’s Barbeque (152 W. 44th St.) gives to Broadway Cares and City Harvest.

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