Tina Constable

Tina Constable, a Pelham resident for over 20 years, is the catalyst of Thanksgiving In A Box. She took a very modest outreach program and transformed it into one that serves thousands of people each Thanksgiving. In the process Tina created a program that has become a point of pride and civic involvement for our entire community.

Thanksgiving In A Box actually started more than 2 decades ago, as part of a modest effort by Huguenot Memorial Church to provide a Thanksgiving meal to underserved families hosted in the gym, that same gym where many of our kids attended Spotlight Gymnastics. After Thanksgiving in 2004, the decision was made to discontinue this early tradition. It was too complicated getting Spotlight equipment cleared from the gym, identifying people in need, and getting volunteers to serve on Thanksgiving Day.

Tina led the charge to re-imagine what a food delivery Thanksgiving model could look like. In 2005, rather than serve at Huguenot, Tina and others brought a cooked turkey and sides to 10 families. But the logistics of this effort were challenging, and presented sanitary issues and concerns, so it was back to the drawing board.

In 2006 Tina took it upon herself to call Family Services of Westchester to develop a solution and came up with the idea of providing food items and a Ham (not a Turkey) in a box to underserved families. She and her colleagues dubbed it “Thanksgiving-In-A-Box” and that initial year of boxes included a fresh pie and traditional Thanksgiving sides like stuffing and cranberry sauce. They served Thanksgiving boxes to 25 families in 2006, 50 families in 2007, and 75 families in 2008.

In 2009, at Tina’s suggestion, a critical change was made. The food items were revamped. It was now going to be less about traditional Thanksgiving sides and, instead the focus shifted to non-perishable and perishable items that could feed a family of 4-6 for a week. Potatoes, apples, rice and pasta were added to the ham and Thanksgiving pie. Tina led a still small group of volunteers to coordinate the effort, and 114 families received their Thanksgiving In A Box.

In 2010 215 families were served, but size was beginning to overwhelm the program. Thanksgiving In A Box was being operated out of the kitchen in the Huguenot basement. As the program grew, it became more and more unwieldy going up and down the kitchen stairs. Cider started exploding in the kitchen! Pies were rotting, and hams were overflowing in the church fridge. While other organizations started to pitch in, Thanksgiving In A Box was at capacity and needed more help.

Of course, it was Tina who saw that help was needed, and of course it was Tina who rallied the troops. She called 3 friends from various religious organizations in Pelham to establish the first Pelham Interfaith community event to help scale it. They continued to modify items to fit in the box (no more cider!), and increased volunteers which was sorely needed. (Knights of Columbus became integral to the deliveries at this time). So even though the kitchen was at capacity, volunteers were needed, and ham storage was a real issue, 2011 still saw 305 families served.

The interfaith effort continued in 2012, and Thanksgiving In A Box was just now beginning to gain traction in the entire community. Christ Church and Pelham Jewish Center joined Huguenot, OLPH and St. Catherine’s, while families and scouting troops (both girls and boys) began to use it as a holiday activity. The kitchen was at capacity with hams, so the overflow was taken by Pelham families that Tina and her colleagues sought out. 2012 saw 450 families served, and 575 were served in 2013, but with continued difficulty storing hams, 2014 saw the number of families served decrease for the first time, to 550. The program had clearly reached another inflection point.

Tina again found a solution, reaching out to local grocery stores and finally convincing Manor Market to join the effort. This was a game-changer! They could store the overflow hams in their commercial fridges. So, in 2015 the number of families served again moved up, as 600 families received their Thanksgiving In A Box. And it hasn’t stopped there, with the number of families being served jumping to 775 in 2016, 825 families in 2017, 880 in 2018, and 940 in 2019.

We all know what happened in 2020. Undeterred by the COVID pandemic, Tina and Thanksgiving In A Box served over 1000 families in 2020. This milestone was reached and exceeded in 2021, 2022, and again in 2023.

To be sure, many hands make light work, and there are certainly many hands involved now in the Thanksgiving In A Box operation, and the purchasing, packing, storage, and delivery of 1,000 boxes that provide meals for a week. Through 2023, all of this was organized and coordinated by Tina. She is the glue, the catalyst, who has been there from the beginning, and whose vision, effort, and enthusiasm made Thanksgiving In A Box one of the most community oriented and successful philanthropic efforts in Pelham, if not Westchester County. None of this happens without Tina. The program doesn’t go from a few families in a gym, to 25 families eating 1 meal, to 1,000 families having food for a week, without Tina’s commitment and dedication on a year-in/year-out basis for the past 20 years.

Tina accomplished all of this in her spare time. She is a successful senior level executive in the media/publishing industry, having worked in that industry since 1993. She is currently an Executive Vice President and Publisher at Random House Christian Publishing, a position she has held since 2018, following other senior level executive positions at Random House and other major publishers. She has lived in Pelham for over 20 years with her husband, Rob (unfortunately, Rob passed away in 2019), and two children.

Tina is also an active member of Huguenot Memorial Church and has served on its Board (Session) and Mission Committee, and routinely involves herself in the service activities of Huguenot and other community organizations, such as meal runs to NYC early on Sunday morning, and mission trips with high school students.

Thanksgiving In A Box parallels many of the programs run by the Civics. It is community-oriented and succeeds because of the incredible efforts of a few people, supported by the generous efforts of many others.