City of Poughkeepsie Police Hosting Thanksgiving Dessert Drive

What a great way to make a community member's Thanksgiving holiday a little sweeter.  The City of Poughkeepsie Community Policing Division, together with a Poughkeepsie School Resource Officer, are looking for some help in giving back to those that may need it for Thanksgiving.

Karen Zirbel, one of the organizers of the Dessert Drive, said she wanted to do something fun a simple, and allow the community to be a part of it:

I have reached out to social workers, guidance counselors and other staff members to find families that can benefit from this. I wanted to give back to families that need, as well as kids that maybe get overlooked due to lack of staff - kids that are just doing the right thing, trying their best, going to school, doing their work, being kind etc. This was just a sweet little way to say that "Hey, someone noticed you." Sometimes in school the kids that are disciplinary problems take up the time of all of the staff members, and the other kids don't get the attention that they deserve. The kids that have behavior issues also usually have those issues for a reason- maybe they are hungry, maybe their parents are never around because they work two jobs to try and make ends meet, maybe they have unmet mental health needs- there is so much. This is a small way to help ALL of them. So basically depending on how much stuff we get, will depend on how many families we can surprise. We are working Thanksgiving day and will be headed out in the morning to surprise the families.