Youth Programs
Turkeys make the day at four Springfield Housing Authority developments
Twelve-year-old Shoeb Adan and his family are having turkey for Thanksgiving at Riverview Apartments, the Springfield Housing Authority development where they live.
So is six-year-old Saynab Mohamed.
Ditto for the three dozen families whose children attend the after-school programs at Riverview, Duggan, Moxon and Pine-James apartments.
“Free turkey? I’m happy. I love turkey, and my family loves it too,” said Shoeb, smiling broadly and hoisting his 15-pounder high in the air at the Riverview Community Room.
Children at Riverview Apartments and ADC staff show their Thanksgiving turkeys.
The turkeys came courtesy of ADC Prevention Services, which provides the after-school and summer programming at the four locations. This year, ADC President Arnold D. Cox said the idea came to him to give every participating family a turkey, to ensure a happy holiday.
“These families have lots of people and they love celebrating together. We thought it would be great to make sure they all have a traditional meal,” Cox said. “ADC wants to make sure everyone has a turkey on Thanksgiving.”
The Springfield-based youth organization bought 60 Butterball turkeys at the Big Y World Class Market, with staff fanning out this week to pass them out to grateful and happy children. At Riverview, children agreed the generosity was a good thing.
“This is great, because turkey is a nice thing to have on Thanksgiving,” said Yasmin Abdi, who is nine.
Shoeb Adan, 12, and Yasmin Abdi, 9, hold their turkeys at Riverview Apartments Community Room.
Abdi Adan, who is 13, agreed that the turkeys were a big hit with the young set. Long a regular at the after-school program, he has more recently gotten busy at Duggan Middle School, where he’s an eighth-grader. He stopped by to visit siblings and friends, and found that turkeys were the order of the day.
“I like turkey, so this is pretty good,” he said, adding that the ADC after-school program is generally a fun time.
“You do your homework, eat, sleep, play games. It’s good here,” Abdi said.
Six-year-old Saynab Mohamed struggled to hold up her turkey. But she didn’t mind.
“I’m happy,” she declared.
Six-year-old Saynab Mohamed and ADC President Arnold D. Cox.
