Internet celebrity Tariq — best known as “The Corn Kid” — partnered with frozen food company Green Giant and anti-hunger charity City Harvest to donate 90,000 cans of veggies to people in need ahead of Thanksgiving.
Seven-year old Tariq visited City Harvest’s new Sunset Park facility on Nov. 21 to help unload some of the boxes of frozen produce that would be donated, in addition to City Harvest meal boxes and 13,000 turkeys which will be distributed across all five boroughs.
The donations couldn’t come at a better time, organizers said, with communities still struggling to make ends meet on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to City Harvest, New York City food pantries and soup kitchens still remain at about 70% above pre-pandemic levels. The charity donates about 200,000 pounds of food each day.
Earlier this year, Tariq achieved internet stardom through a viral video on the social media app Tik Tok when he was interviewed about his favorite food, corn. The video subsequently received over 5 million likes and eventually was remixed into a catchy song.
When asked about his favorite vegetable, Tariq said he liked it simply “because it’s healthy.” He was so excited about Monday’s donation that he squealed with joy upon seeing the truckloads of corn before it was packed into boxes for families.
“What is Thanksgiving without corn?” Tariq said. “Thanksgiving is practically a holiday about corn. I mean, every day could be a holiday if you get to eat corn at some point — but this is the one day that we get to stay home with family, watch a big parade, and then eat corn. Lots and lots of corn. It’s my favorite day of the year!”
Green Giant was also excited about their Thanksgiving partnership with Tariq.
“We are very excited to partner with Corn Kid this Thanksgiving as his enthusiasm for corn rivals that of the Green Giant himself,” said Kristen Thompson, senior vice president and president of Frozen & Vegetables at B&G Foods. “Corn Kid has a giant heart and we are thrilled to help him share his love of corn with his community this Thanksgiving with an enormous donation of our canned veggies.”
To learn more about City Harvest, visit cityharvest.org.
