These turkeys are flying off the shelf.
Big Apple first responders and a grocery store mogul teamed up Monday to dole out the first of a promised 10,000-holiday turkeys for seniors and the needy in the five boroughs.
The first handful of big birds were handed out outside St. Malachy’s Church in Times Square, with Mayor Eric Adams joining members of the FDNY and supermarket millionaire John Catsimatidis, the owner of 77 WABC radio whose stores donated the plump poultry again this year.
Also on hand were members of the NYPD and Catholic Charities, organizers said.
“This is a season of Thanksgiving, not thanks receiving. So we should be giving,” Adams said. “New York knows it, right? No one gives and contributes to everyday people the way we do here in the greatest city on the globe.”
About two dozen turkeys were handed out for starters, with firefighters from Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 joined others to pass them out from a big red trolley.
The event followed a similar giveaway last year, when 200 turkeys were distributed to the needy — the first of what was eventually 10,000 oven-bound birds, event rep Renee Cassis told The Post Monday.
This year, organizers said 5,000 turkeys will be donated to needy families for Thanksgiving, with more than 3,000 earmarked for the Bronx, 1,140 for Manhattan, 430 for Brooklyn and Queens, and another 375 to be distributed across the Lower Hudson Valley.
Another 5,000 will be distributed before Christmas, the organizers said.“Oftentimes we don’t get an opportunity to be able to do something like this, to be able to help people out in the most difficult times in order to make a meaningful contribution in their lives, especially during these very difficult times,” FDNY Uniformed FIrefighters Association President Jim Brosi told reporters.
“So times like this really give us a chance to give back,” Brosi added.
One recipient of the holiday giveaway was an 85-year-old local known lovingly as Grandma Pat.
“It feels privileged and great,” she told reporters. “It picks up my spirits — we need some spirit picking up. I’m very appreciative and happy. It can get a little grey and it’s very nice.”Samuel Guerrero, 76, of Woodside, Queens, said he signed up for a free turkey a week ago.
“It’s not the turkey itself, this is more humanity. This is human,” he said. “All of these things count. It’s not really the turkey. It’s the love.”
