|
The need is greater this year but the Christmas hampers will be full,
thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers, a generous community, and
more than 100 students from Kincardine District Secondary School.
The KDSS Christmas Knights were out in full force Saturday morning,
gathering toys and non-perishable food for the hamper program. Working
in groups of three to seven students, they travelled numerous routes
from Lorne Beach Road in the north to Heritage Drive in the south. And
they brought back bags and boxes of items to help bring a Merry
Christmas to those in need.
There are 119 Christmas hampers needed this year, said Anne Gibson,
volunteer co-ordinator of the program which is operated through
Kincardine Community Services. That's up slightly from 103 last year,
she said.
Of the hampers this year, about 40 are going to single adults, with the
rest going to families of two to six members - some of those could be a
single parent and a child, said Gibson.
While the Christmas Knights play a huge role in ensuring the hampers are
full, the community is very generous and many businesses, service
groups, schools and churches do a wonderful job of donating food and
toys for the program, Gibson said. "We have lots of volunteers and a
wonderful spirit here."
Volunteers will begin packing the hampers Monday (Dec. 15) and they will
be picked up Friday (Dec. 19), Gibson said. Besides non-perishable food
and toys, each hamper will contain a food voucher, potatoes (for larger
families), a meat voucher, gift certificates from various businesses,
and free passes for skating and swimming at the Davidson Centre.
Five-year-old Eric Hackney, son of Kathy and Dave Hackney of Kincardine,
got into the spirit of the season by accepting donations for the food
hamper during his birthday party at the end of October. He and his mom,
a teacher at KDSS, brought in the stack of items Saturday when the
Christmas Knights were at work.
With their skiing Santa are Anirudha Panditrao (L),
Natalie Mellick, Tessa Collins, Lauren Marshall, Samantha Lourenssen,
Mackenzie Marshall and Cheyenne Hunter
Anne Gibson (L) and Bernadette McAuley check out
the stack of toys brought in by the Christmas Knights
(next column)
13/01/2009 04:17 PM
|
(continued)
Christmas hamper committee, Anne Gibson (L), Kate Binnendyk, Mary Rigden,
Agnes White, Frances Clark, Rhodora Doughty and Barb Burgess
Eric Hackney, son of Kathy and Dave Hackney of
Kincardine, holds up some of the donations from his birthday party
Sorting the items are Debby Dennis (L), Natasha
Wickert, Cynthia Wickert and Sue Hetherington
With some of the toys for the Christmas hampers are
Allison Dinsmore (L) and Emily VanVeghel
It's goalies and gals, George Grammenopolous (L),
Jenny Boyadjian, Drew Pegrum, Kayla Crouchman and Alec Holla
|
