With Thanksgiving just a week away, dozens of Charlestown families are guaranteed to have a turkey on their table thanks to the School of Nursing, some hustle, and old-fashioned partnership.

The School’s faculty and staff contributed funds to buy 110 turkeys for families serviced by Harvest on the Vine, a Charlestown food pantry. The need arose when the entity that usually donates Thanksgiving turkeys informed Harvest on the Vine it couldn’t supply any this year. 

Fortunately, the School of Nursing was discussing holiday donations and invited Tom MacDonald, who heads up the Harvest on the Vine, for a conversation two weeks ago. 

“We said, ‘You know, we'd like to partner with you, but instead of us telling you what you need, you tell us what you need so that we can actually help you,” recalled Dean Maura Abbott. “He said they just really needed turkeys, that they had a group that usually gave them turkeys that had pulled out, and they really needed turkeys. We said, ‘How about 100 turkeys?’ And he said, ‘Oh my gosh, that's the exact number they pulled out of - 100 turkeys!’ So, we decided we would do the 100 turkeys.” 

That’s when nursing professor Brenna Morse sprang into action, utilizing her Amazon business account and friend at BJ’s Wholesale to buy turkeys in bulk. She bought 60 turkeys at first, which were supposed to be delivered to her home. But not all of them arrived. 

“I received a knock on my door from the warehouse manager, who said ‘Nobody wanted to take this delivery. I could only fit 38 in my car. We'll just refund you for the rest,’” said Morse. “And I said, ‘Well, I actually committed them, so I will come to you. Where are the rest of the turkeys?’” 

The turkeys were at a warehouse in Everett, which Morse and her father drove to and loaded up their car. 

A week later, Morse and her father picked up 50 more turkeys for a total of 110. 

“It’s unbelievable, it’s unbelievable,” said a grateful MacDonald of Harvest on the Vine. “To come up with 100 turkeys just took all the pressure off me because turkeys in bulk are hard to find right now.

“This kind of gesture keeps you going, you know? People care and people want to make a difference. And there was no better example of that than the IHP. That was just so gratifying for me, personally. It's going to be a good Thanksgiving.”

A good Thanksgiving thanks to the generosity of the nursing school’s faculty and staff, and the determination by one of its professors. 

“I mean, people always say, ‘Nurses get it done,’” noted Morse. “And we heard about suffering and a need, and we wanted to respond right away and help.”

That they did, and it won’t be the last time. 

“There will be a call to action because we're going to be doing this all year,” said Abbott. “This is something that we're going to continue to do going forward, because it's really so important to feed our community. Nobody should ever be hungry.”