Our Christmas Basket program reaches out to partnering agencies such as Catholic Charities, United Way and Project Self-Sufficiency 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 70 families.
To fund this annual event we ask our donations from our club (since we are not meeting in person, a portion of our regular dues are used as community donations). 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:
-Ham
-Bag of Potato's
-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 distribution. The food is delivered to the family 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 into each of the baskets (grocery bag or box) 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. Our club members and families look forward to participating in this great project for our community each year.
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