nothin Miss Mae Ola Was Watching Over | New Haven Independent

Miss Mae Ola Was Watching Over

With Miss Mae Ola Riddick looking over their shoulders, members of the Dixwell community continued her legacy of feeding those in need for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Riddick died at 71 last year. Thanks to volunteers working in her memory, people were busy lining up at the Dixwell Avenue police substation Tuesday to pick up a turkey and fresh fruits and veggies to feed their families as if the chairlady” would be handing them out personally.

That’s exactly how she would have wanted it, said New Haven Police Lt. Patricia Helliger (at left in photo). This is what Miss Mae Ola was about,” Helliger said. She never wanted anyone to go hungry for the holidays.”

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Metashar Dillon (pictured), CEO of Kingdom International Economic Development Corp (KIEDC), said Riddick passed the torch to her and Helliger just before she died. Both had helped Riddick individually with her endeavors to provide for people during the holiday, but didn’t actually start working together until after Riddick passed last year. Dillon said last year, the first year that the giveaway was done without Riddick, more than 1,000 families were fed. The two-way giveaway fed 1,548 people, according to Dillon.

Dillon said that she thinks the need is greater this year than people realize. People tend to think that because there are so many people giving out turkeys during this time of the year that the need is being met,” she said. As you can see, there is still need.” In fact, there was so much need that there was a waiting list that was still growing Tuesday afternoon.

New Haven’s top cop Chief Dean Esserman (at center in photo) stopped by to drop off his donation to the drive Monday, and Newhallville Alder Brenda Foskey-Cyrus (at right) hoisted big turkeys and packed bags for families. She said she knew Riddick when she was starting out in politics. She was glad to be a part of continuing her legacy. This is real,” she said of what the food means for families.

Dillon said plans are in the work to make one of Riddick’s biggest dream come true. She said Riddick always wanted to have a more permanent space where people who need it could get a hot meal to go. Riddick shared her dream with Dillon just before she passed. Mae was truly a giver,” Dillon said.

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