Service Clubs

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The annual Christmas Hamper program is under way in Kincardine with donations coming in, and Kincardine Community Services volunteers gearing up for the busy weeks ahead.

Tuesday afternoon, the Kincardine Rotary Club presented $1,000 to the agency for the program which provides hampers full of food, toys and gifts for people in need at Christmas time.

Starting Nov. 16, collection boxes will be placed in Kincardine Home Hardware and Canadian Tire to accept donations of toys.

Kincardine Community Services has an arrangement with the Kincardine Food Bank which provides the hamper program with festive and seasonal foods, plus baby food, for the hampers.

The biggest boost every year is the annual food and toy drive by the Kincardine District Secondary School Christmas Knights who spend an entire Saturday morning, picking up donations from households in the former Town of Kincardine, stretching as far north as Lorne Beach Road.

This year's drive is Dec. 10, with student co-ordinators Mackenzie Marshall, Kortney Watson and Amy Nagus in charge. They will have to recruit 135 student volunteers to collect the donations on that day.

They also need a team of volunteer drivers to take the groups of students along their routes, picking up donations. Often, the students enjoy some rivalry, as there is a contest for the best-decorated vehicle.

The Knights are stressing that people put their donations in reusable cloth bags to help reduce waste. Besides non-perishable food items and new toys, the students are also collecting new, unused gifts and personal items for older men and women and teenagers, as well as knitted hats, scarves and mitts.

When a family applies for a hamper, information about clothing sizes for the children in the family is also provided. If you would like to include clothing in your cloth bag, contact Andy Burgess at 519-396-8345 for details.

Kincardine Community Services sends letters to schools, churches and organizations, inviting them to participate in collecting goods or to give a monetary donation to the cause. Financial support can be sent to treasurer Rhodora Doughty, P.O. Box 527, Kincardine, Ontario, N2Z 2Y9.

To inquire about receiving a hamper, contact a local social service agency, such as a school, minister, counsellor, housing authority or food bank, by Dec. 1."

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Thursday, November 17, 2011