Turkey donation set to inspire others during holiday season

PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

By STELLA MORRISON
Staff Writer

 Top: Daniel Passafiume (second from right) supervises his great-grandson William Passafiume (from left), great-granddaughter Danni Passafiume, grandson-in-law Jared Ericksen and granddaughter Diana Passafiume during the 90-year-old’s annual donation of turkeys and hams to St. Bernadette’s Parish in Parlin for the holidays. Above: Passafiume and JoAnne Lee supervise members of Passafiume’s family. Top: Daniel Passafiume (second from right) supervises his great-grandson William Passafiume (from left), great-granddaughter Danni Passafiume, grandson-in-law Jared Ericksen and granddaughter Diana Passafiume during the 90-year-old’s annual donation of turkeys and hams to St. Bernadette’s Parish in Parlin for the holidays. Above: Passafiume and JoAnne Lee supervise members of Passafiume’s family. SAYREVILLE — When Daniel Passafiume goes grocery shopping for the holiday season, the store prepares for his arrival.

“I got a call [on Nov. 18] from ShopRite [in Parlin] that said they were ready for me to pick up my turkeys,” he said, jokingly adding, “They better be ready for me.”

The advanced preparation is necessary because Passafiume is no ordinary holiday shopper. For the past several years, Passafiume, 90, has spent his own money to buy dozens of holiday turkeys and hams for those in need.

 PHOTOS BY SCOTT FRIEDMAN PHOTOS BY SCOTT FRIEDMAN This year, Passafiume purchased 100 items — 50 turkeys and 50 hams — for needy families assisted by St. Bernadette’s Parish in Parlin.

“He just called me one day and started asking me how many turkeys I would need, how many hams I would need and how many families I had,” said JoAnn Lee, the social concerns director for St. Bernadette’s. “Each year I would tell him, and every year he would get that many — plus 10 or 15 more. This year is the most I ever needed, and he got everything.”

Passafiume’s volunteerism goes beyond his annual turkey purchase. The World War II veteran has logged thousands of hours as a volunteer with the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Lyons, along with other members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 10. For more than a decade, he served coffee and cake to patients after learning that the coffee there wasn’t up-to-par.

“I would serve over 400 cups of coffee to the vets up there,” Passafiume said.

His turkey donations picked up where his hospital volunteerism left off after seeing an advertisement in a St. Bernadette’s bulletin for Thanksgiving turkeys.

“First, I volunteered with the veterans, and now I switched over to civilians,” Passafiume said. “I can’t believe that in this country of ours, people don’t have any food. When I started, I gave around 25 turkeys. Every year, I added and added.”

His long-term goal of 100 items, which cost around $2,000, has been met. But it isn’t the largest purchase he tried to make.

“I tried to make it 125 this year, but I couldn’t,” he said.

Some of his four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren join him each year to help haul the turkeys from ShopRite to St. Bernadette’s. Passafiume said this was all possible because of the assistance of his family.

“We didn’t even know he was doing it,” his grandson Danny Passafiume said. “When we found out, we just decided to all go and make a night out of it, to help out and give back. It was good because we felt like we were giving back during the holidays.”

Lee said that with donations from parish members, in addition to Passafiume’s donation,

St. Bernadette’s will assist 125 to 150 families for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

“If there’s leftovers, we keep them frozen and give them away throughout the year,” Lee said. “[Passafiume’s] donation is so significant, and it really has helped us more than a great deal.”

Danny Passafiume hopes his grandfather’s efforts will serve as an example for others during the holiday season.

“The one thing he’s definitely not doing this for is any sort of self-gratification; he’s doing this for someone else,” the younger Passafiume said. “Maybe someone else will see what he’s doing and it will inspire them to do the same thing.”

Contact Stella Morrison at [email protected].