Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

Once again, members of the community gathered at the Community Congregational Church on Sunday to assemble and deliver Thanksgiving baskets to families in the area. Ron Reedy with the Community Congregational Church and one of the lead organizers for the event, started out by welcoming the nearly 50 volunteers, "Welcome to the 2019 turkey basket program."

As Reedy gave out instructions and explained the process to everyone gathered around, there was barely standing room and all the volunteers were eager to get started. Boxes were grouped in different sizes and separated around the room. Each size box represented the size of family and the amount of food that would go into each small, medium, large and single size basket.

"We are providing a full meal that should feed each family for up to two days," stated Reedy. In 2018, about 85 families received a basket, while this year, 98 families will be getting a Thanksgiving basket. According to Reedy, that's more than 400 people the community has been able to help this year.

In the kitchen, all the fresh produce was being held and ready to be boxed up. Church member and volunteer Evie Arend said, "By 4 this afternoon we should have all the boxes delivered." Betty Kenney, another church member and local volunteer stated, "All the food was ordered through Harvest Foods. Yesterday a group of volunteers came in and helped pre-bag all the fresh produce. Once the food got to the church, it took the women no more than an hour and a half to finish." Kenney continued. "We've got a lot of volunteers this year, we will have the same progress as we did yesterday."

Students from Building Bridges, Reflections Academy and Explorations were there Sunday to lend a helping hand.