ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A hot meal and a little love. For 12 years, Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen has turned Thanksgiving into a day of community in Albany, feeding thousands who need a place to feel at home.
Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox!
Allie Williams, affectionately known as “Allie B” is all about giving back to the Capital Region. IN her words, everyone is family: “It brings families together. If you don’t have a cousin, when you leave here, you will have a cousin. If you don’t have an aunt, when you leave here, I will be your aunt.”
The work starts long before the doors open — with Allie and her team pushing through sleepless nights to make sure every plate is fresh. Allie continued, “We’ve been up for like three days cooking because I want to give the community fresh food. So nothing was cooked last week. Everything was cooked basically last night.”
Inspirational stories behind the 78th annual Troy Turkey Trot
The community was able to come in and pick up food or get it delivered. In addition to the preparation for Allie B and her volunteers packed up around 875 pre-packaged meals to be delivered throughout Albany by volunteer drivers.
The volunteers that drive the boxes understand how important the deliveries are. Freedom O’Keefe has been a volunteer driver with Allie B’s for years, and it’s a cause that hits close to home. She went on to say, “I know what it’s like not to have family to spend the holidays with. And I know what it’s like to need some help sometimes. So giving back is just like my way of paying forward what I have experienced.”
Thanksgiving pet guide: Safe and unsafe foods for your pets
Allie said that the greatest honor was Governor Kathy Hochul coming to her kitchen to help serve the community. She went on to say, “She is a great leader and the children of this community that will see her today, the mothers and fathers that will see her today is going to continue to inspire them because our leaders have shown up home.”…