English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Suffolk, VA

Veterans will be provided with a Thanksgiving basket. Here's what they need to know.

HAUPPAUGE, NY — Suffolk County veterans can claim a free Thanksgiving basket, Long Island Cares, PSEG Long Island and the Suffolk County Veteran Service Agency announced.

All veterans in Suffolk are welcome to the Thanksgiving Drive Through, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 21, at the H. Lee Dennison Building, at 100 Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge.

As of Monday, there are 132 veterans registered under "retired" status in Suffolk County, said Dr. Jessica Rosati, vice president of programs at Long Island Cares. Long Island Cares is prepared to distribute up to 600 holiday baskets and side proteins, she said.

Veterans can register for the event here.

It marks the second year Long Island Cares is running the distribution with the Suffolk County Veteran Service Agency and PSEG Long Island, Rosati said.

Find out what's happening in Hauppaugewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Having the ability to do this distribution for SC Vets has been a wonderful experience and tremendously needed, as the majority of veterans who have registered are retired," Rosati told Patch.

With over two weeks until the event, Long Island Cares anticipates more veterans will register, so Rosati does not think there will be a surplus of Thanksgiving baskets. Long Island Cares distributed to 405 veteran households last year, Rosati said.

"Given the increase in need, and the rise of numbers throughout the emergency food network, we increased our budget to accommodate the need," she said.

PSEG Long Island is "proud" to partner with Long Island Cares again to help ensure the "men and women who have served our country can enjoy a full Thanksgiving meal," said David Lyons, PSEG Long Island’s interim president and COO.

"These initiatives are opportunities for us to honor veterans in our community and thank them for their service," Lyons said. "I am grateful to our PSEG Long Island employees for raising their hands to support our neighbors who served."

Partners for this event include sponsor PSEG Long Island, the Suffolk County government, and the Suffolk County Veteran Service Agency.

Rosati thanked PSEG Long Island for being a partner and "understanding the challenges associated with food insecurity."

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness in our local communities of hunger, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks and 60,000 local meals programs across the country, estimates that nearly 34 million people, including 9 million children — about 1 in 6 Americans — are living with food insecurity. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.

Meet the two challengers and the two incumbents running for Suffolk City Council this year.

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SUFFOLK, Va. — The November 5 election is about two weeks away, and in Suffolk, three City Council races are on the ballot.

Lue Ward is running unopposed for the Nansemond Borough.

But someone is challenging the incumbent in both the Sleepy Hole and Whaleyville Boroughs.

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In the Sleepy Hole Borough, which includes Driver, Bennetts Creek and Harbourview, Ebony Wright is challenging incumbent City Councilman, Roger Fawcett.

In the Whaleyville Borough, which includes areas just south of downtown and stretches to the North Carolina border, Jason Wooldridge is challenging incumbent City Councilman, LeOtis Williams.

The common focus among all four candidates for Suffolk City Council is how to deal with the city’s growth.

Below is a profile of each candidate, with links to their websites for more information about their policies and vision for Suffolk:

"We are working on traffic congestion which seems to be the big thing today facing all of us, with that, I’d like to work on smart growth as well as affordable housing in the next council if I am reelected," Fawcett said.

“Quality of life, city services, keeping taxes low, smart growth, making sure our public schools are well maintained, as well as funding the economic development, traffic congestion and maintaining our triple A bond rating," he said. "Those are the key things that we’ve got to continue to work on.”

For more information, visit Roger Fawcett's website.

“There are a lot of changes happening in our city, and I want to be able to influence that change," said Wright. "One of the big issues for us is rapid growth, which is actually outpacing our infrastructure, and so I want to be someone who listens to the voices of the citizens of Suffolk and do something about that and come up with solution."

“Suffolk is one of the largest cities here in our state, it is the largest city in our state, and so there is enough room and enough land for there to be affordable housing, for us to have a better student to teacher ratio, for us to not have to sit in traffic because we’re trying to put so much right in the north part of the city," she said. "So, when I talk to citizens across the Sleepy Hole Borough, those are their concerns.”

For more information, visit Ebony Wright's website.

“My main purpose of running was to give a voice to the people, myself included, who didn’t have a voice," said Williams. "And we’ve been able to get a lot of things done as it relates to getting roads, milling and paving, throughout the Whaleyville Borough, and throughout the city."

“I think the city is on the right path, we’ve got a good council right now, we’re not rushing to any kind of judgment, we think things through, we allow staff to give us good feedback, and I like to see what we have in place to continue," he said.

For more information, visit LeOtis Williams' Facebook page.

“I think Suffolk needs to be better, not bigger... Downtown is suffering while we are expanding and giving up valuable land, and I just don't think that's the right answer, so I would like to see us reverse track and stop this outward expansion and focus inward, and revitalize our city," said Wooldridge. "Downtown has existing infrastructure, it might need some renovations, but it's designed and laid out already to support higher-density housing. It really presents the most logical solution in my opinion to the affordable housing shortage that we have."

“We don’t want to stop the growth, but we want to do it smarter, and we want to do it in the areas where it makes more sense to do it," he said. "I’m not in it for me, this is not about me, this is about my community, and me trying to serve my community and make it a better place.”

For more information, visit Jason Wooldridge's website.