As Thanksgiving draws near, chances are you are thinking about what you can do to help others. If you want to donate  food to the needy, now is the time to mark your calendar. The Community FoodBank of New Jersey will hold its annual Thanksgiving Turkey and Food Drive this Saturday. Volunteers will collect frazen turkeys, non-perishable food and donations at the front circular driveway of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

"Helping a struggling family to have a turkey and the trimmings on Thanksgiving ... makes a day special in the midst of what for some is an endless battle," says Kathleen DiChiara, President and CEO of the CFBNJ.

The turkeys and other donations will help the FoodBank to provide a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and other holiday meals to those in need, as well as  and to still be there for those in need after the holidays.

According to U.S. Census figures released in September, 810,000 people in New Jersey were living below the poverty line in 2009, an increase of more than 50,000 people in our state in one year. More and more people are turning to emergency food programs, including the 305 charitable organizations in Essex County that receive food from the FoodBank. The turkeys, food and dollars you contribute to the Turkey Drive allow the FoodBank to help these programs provide a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to their needy clients.

The FoodBank also accepts financial donations, which will be used to purchase turkeys at wholesale prices and distribute food and groceries throughout the winter months. Donations can be made online at www.njfoodbank.org. Checks made out to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey can dropped off at  the turkey collection site or be sent to:  31 Evans Terminal, Hillside, NJ 07205. Please write "Turkey Drive" on the outside of the envelope.

The case of the missing 'S'

Something is missing on the Seton Hall campus these days. It's not school spirit, what with basketball season starting this week, there's plenty of that. But it is something that starts with an S or used to. The sign welcoming visitors and students to the University has been missing its S since Halloween – it now reads Eton Hall University. Police have not caught the culprit but given the timing of the letter's disappearance, it is considered a prank. "It's one of those things," Gary Christie, assistant director of SHU security. "What are you going to do?