A turkey giveaway outside Gravesend’s Marlboro Houses this weekend turned into a star-studded affair when actor and former resident Tracy Morgan dropped by to surprise volunteers and recipients.
More than 500 people were gifted frozen turkeys, fresh produce and other food during the massive distribution, hosted by the Marlboro Resident Association in partnership with the Food Bank for New York City and Stop & Shop.
“He never forgot his roots and generously donated to the Food Bank for many food distributions in Brooklyn,” area Councilmember Ari Kagan said at the event. “Residents were really excited to see such a prominent celebrity personally participating in the turkey giveaway.”
Morgan spent his early years living in the Marlboro Houses before moving with his family to the Tompkins Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where he spent most of his life. Today, the actor — known for his roles in Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock — continues to give back to the borough that helped raise him. He also based many scenes in his series The Last O.G. on his early life in Bed-Stuy.
“It’s all love,” he told the Wall Street Journal ahead of the show’s launch in 2018.
This weekend’s giveaway was funded in part by Kagan, who secured funding for the initiative with the help of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Brooklyn Delegation.
But the giveaway would not be possible, the pol said, “without huge help from an army of volunteers from Marlboro Houses, Coney Island and Food Bank, as well as [New York City Housing Authority] workers.”
Also in attendance was newly-elected Brooklyn Civil Court Judge Brian Gottlieb — a staple in southern Brooklyn’s charitable community — who gave back to the community once more, this time in his new role.
