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LL is late to the party on today’s hot story about Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry‘s war on Giant over undelivered free turkeys to his constituents. Anything LL writes won’t compare to the press release Barry’s office has already released, so here it is, enjoy:
The efforts of Marion Barry, Ward 8 Councilmember, and a senior member of the D.C. Council to deliver 2,000 turkeys to Ward 8 residents today has been thwarted and postponed due to the Giant Grocery Store’s corporate inflexibility.
Barry had raised and received $17 of the $26 thousand dollars that Giant would receive for the turkeys that would have been distributed today however, Giant insisted that the full $26 thousand dollars be received by the store on Monday and that without full payment, the Company would not delivery the birds to Barry.
“First of all, I must apologize to the Ward 8 community for Giant’s failure to provide timely support to the Community. It’s simply pathetic and incomprehensible to me that a multi-billion dollar corporation, like Giant, would take a position that would deprive children, seniors and other adults of food for the Thanksgiving holiday”, Barry said.
“I told Chris Pardisins of Giant that my corporate contributions weren’t pie in the sky promises, but simply delayed by the bureaucracy of their organizations, as his Company’s ability to be flexible and accommodation of this situation seemed to be, and that Giant’s intractability on this issue was heartless”, Barry added.
Mr. Pardisins informed Barry only last night that the Company would not provide 2,000 turkeys to him for distribution today in advance of full payment, despite assurances from Barry that the money would be forthcoming in the next two days.
After hours of painstaking negotiation between Barry and the Company late last night and early this morning, Giant relinquished, promising to begin to thaw the turkeys today for delivery and distribution by Barry tomorrow morning.
“While I am now happy that Giant, albeit belatedly, reversed its decision, it pains me that Giant was so intractable on its position and reluctant to accommodate the situation, and that this distribution, as it is, still won’t fully meet the needs of the Community in Ward 8”.
The turkeys will now be distributed from the Union Temple church, locate at 1225 W Street, S.E. beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery