November 21, 2011 | 11:00 AM | By

Turkey Giveaway Brings Cheer to Ward 8

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, a number of D.C. individuals and organizations are giving away turkeys to folks in need. Convenience store owner Ephrame Kassaye gave away 375 turkeys to Ward 8 residents during a weekend block party. “Without the people who live in the community, I am nothing,” Kassaye told The Washington Post‘s Theola Labbé-DeBose. “I just want to tell them thank you. They deserve this.”


The third annual giveaway was a cheerful moment for an area of the city with pockets of poverty and attention-grabbing crime, such as the homicide last month of a gas station attendant. Police said the attendant was shot across the street from Kassaye’s store by a patron who had taken a gun to the store.

… Ronald Requilman, 59, who came out early Sunday to help Kassaye with the setup, looked around at the smiling children and orderly line and said he was proud to assist. The four police officers on the scene for crowd control had little to do.

“Southeast does have some good things happening, and this is one of them,” Requilman said.

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