One of the long-time traditions here at St. Thomas is to donate 200 food baskets to the needy of our local community for Christmas every year. It is quite an undertaking. We solicit donations of non-perishable food items and frozen turkeys from parishioners beginning in November. Gulf Shrimp generously stores the turkeys for us. Then, the weekend before Christmas, volunteers gather to make up the food baskets and deliver them to individual residences provided by the Social Services Agency in town.
While I was aware of this endeavor, I had never really watched the process unfold until this year. It is quite amazing, a well-oiled machine! In forty-five minutes, all two hundred boxes were filled with the same ingredients, and set aside according to pre-determined route numbers. The next morning, after gathering for Mass, these volunteers loaded up vans, cars and trucks, added a frozen turkey per box, and went out to deliver a Christmas meal to 200 families. In a few hours, the mission was accomplished!
A huge 'thank-you' goes out to Stan Magairie who coordinates the effort, Mark Dreschler who takes the turkeys from our freezers to Gulf Shrimp a few times per week, and the many, many people who do the 'leg work' that will truly help make this Christmas a bit merrier for some within our wonderful community!
No comments:
Post a Comment