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Once again, the Sheriff's Relief Fund is spreading Christmas cheer to families throughout Sanders County. Head coordinator, Theresa Milner, with the Sanders County Sheriff's Office, along with many volunteers, have been busy all week collecting the tree of hearts gifts that were placed around the county for families in need this holiday season.

Since this is Milner's 13th year heading up this event. Everything was running smoothly Monday morning as she met with volunteers of the community in the basement of Valley Bank to assemble Christmas food baskets and gather presents that were distributed to all the families.

"I always give two presents per child," Milner stated, "and this year we had 430 kids sign up, which means we were able to hand out 860 presents." This year Milner said there will be 167 families receiving a Christmas food basket. "Which is more than we had last year. Last year, I believe we had around 150 families sign up," she stated.

Scurrying around Milner were volunteers who happily donated their Monday morning for a good cause. Among those volunteers was a group of young ladies from Reflections Academy. Raylyn Clark, 17, was one of them. This was Clark's first year volunteering for the Sheriff's Relief Fund. "I just want to help the community out, and make sure everyone is fed and happy," Clark said.

Another group volunteering on Monday was employees from Avista. While the group not only donated their time, this year Avista donated blankets. Everyone who received a Christmas food basket also received an Avista blanket.

Ledger photo by Miriah Kardelis THERESA MILNER with the Sanders County Sheriff's Office helps coordinate volunteers Monday morning for gathering and distributing gifts and food baskets.

Sheriff Tom Rummel pulled up to Valley Bank in Thompson Falls bright and early with a trailer packed full of Christmas food he picked up from Harvest Foods in Thompson Falls. Rummel also took part in handing out turkeys that went with the food baskets.

With as many volunteers that Milner got this year, she noticed the assembling of the food baskets went rather quickly. "I've got some reserve deputies, along with the Avista crew, and everyone else who are helping out this year," Milner exclaimed.

Milner said she received around $12,000 in donations this year. "Most of that goes toward food, and some of that goes toward teenage presents," Milner said. Which was helpful, since she noticed she was a little short on presents for the teenagers this year.

All in all, there were about 40 volunteers this year wanting to bring some holiday cheer to families of Sanders County.