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Our Christmas Basket program reaches out to partnering agencies such as Neighbor to Neighbor, Catholic Charities, United Way, Project Self-Sufficiency and others, to identify well deserving families who are in need of food during this season. We work with the Larimer County Food Bank to see what they have for us to distribute as well. This year we would like to serve 80 families. This is the as many baskets delivered in 2023, and we anticipate with inflation and high cost of food, families needs remain constant.
To fund this annual event we ask for donations from our club, and donations from our local grocery store in the form of fabric grocery bags. Below is a list of what we include in the Christmas Baskets. Each year the basket varies based on the availability from the food bank, whatever we don't get from the food bank we purchase at a local grocery store.
Items include:
-Fabric reusable grocery bags with handles (4 of them) to carry food
-Ham
-Bag of Potatoes
-Bag of Flour
-Bag of Sugar
-(2) gallons of milk
-(4) cans of vegetables
-Butter
-Cheese
-(2) loafs of bread
-Dozen Eggs
-Gravy packets
-(2) cans of peaches
-apple juice
-peanut butter
Volunteers:
During the weeks prior to the Basket Delivery date, we have volunteers that help with logistics and planning. There is a prep day in which we compile all the groceries for transport, and then distribution. The food is delivered to the families in need by our Rotarians and their families. The distribution of the meals usually takes less than 2 hours per volunteer, typically the Saturday before Christmas.
Prep Day:
The day prior to the distribution, all the food is picked up from the food bank and grocery store. We meet at a local business where we have space for putting together the food baskets for distribution. We usually have 4 to 5 volunteers to get all the food compiled together into each of the baskets (grocery bag) in a couple of hours.
Distribution Day:
Our club distributes the Christmas Baskets the weekend prior to Christmas. We usually have our delivery volunteers meet at the business where the baskets are put together. Each delivery volunteer will get an address/map for their basket delivery, usually 2 to
3 baskets per volunteer. The entire distribution is done within a few hours, with the Christmas meal delivered to the recipient's front door. Our club members and families look forward to participating in this great project for our community each year. The charities we work with have repeatedly told us that without this program, many families will not have a meal for the holiday, and this reminds them that the community has their back. The families look forward to this for the holiday.
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