The Hampton Bays LI Tweetup on Saturday, November 14 was a success in many ways. For one thing, we all got a chance to put the face to the avatar: the indefatigable @MissBeckala, the effervescent @TheShoeDawg (with son @AaronHagler and wife Becky), young upstart @ChrisPisacano of @WordHamptonPR and yours truly @SteveHaweeli manned the @PaneraBread table on behalf of @IslandHarvest. Rain be damned: we ended up with close to 50 lbs of donated non-perishable food thanks to a hefty bag of canned goods donated by Alex Gordon (who learned about it on Facebook) and support from Yvette Somekh ($25) and Gene Colleary of East Hampton and their pal, Priscilla. An intrepid reporter from the Southampton Press Group interviewed us, took some pics and even brought a food donation. Besides the inclement weather, we also had stiff competition from another food drive at the nearby Stop N Shop. It's all good: Long Islanders in need were the real winners today!

@MissBeckala and @TheShoeDawg guard the goods at the Hampton Bays Panera