Planning begins for holiday giving

The time for giving is rounding the bend and the Sanders County community is again working to bring the Thanksgiving holiday to those who cannot afford to celebrate it on their own. Thanksgiving baskets is a community initiative that started over 16 years ago with the Thompson Falls Community Congregational Church.

What started with Pastor Gaylund Olsen as a small outreach program has transformed into “quite an operation,” said David Reedy, who is now in charge of the whole thing. He has been doing it himself for nearly as long as the initiative has been around.

The initiative receives donations from not only numerous churches across Sanders County, but from local businesses and individual donors. Last year the initiative helped over 100 families by bringing them a full course Thanksgiving meal for free, and this year Reedy expects there to be more. All donations go straight into meals which include Thanksgiving traditional such as a turkey, pumpkin pie mix, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing and much more. According to Reedy, each basket is valued at roughly $60, and that is after generous discounts from Harvest Foods, where most of the food comes from.

The “baskets,” which are actually a big box or two and a turkey, are organized by family size. To receive the donation, families only need to fill out a form, which can be found around the community at The Ledger, churches or through contacting Reedy at the Internet Kitchen in Thompson Falls, and include their address and family size. “If they ask, we make sure they get food,” said Reedy. The initiative reaches just south of Thompson Falls west to Noxon. Reedy said that they wish they could cover the whole county, however, “We just don’t have the people to reach east very far,” added Reedy.

On the day of the giveaway, November 22 at 2 p.m. at the Thompson Falls Community Congregational Church, community volunteers will show up to distribute the meals. The process, according to Reedy, usually takes all of about two hours. This year, however, he said that is will work a little differently, with the COVID-19 outbreak. Most years the initiative will get together on the day of delivery and organize meals to be sent out. Unfortunately, to follow guidelines, the initiative will have to space people out and will pre-organize meals to simply be picked up by delivery drivers. The volunteer drivers will be given addresses in a similar area to each other and will grab meal crates that correspond to family size. Then, they will rush out that afternoon to deliver the goods to those in need. “Not one person comes back and tells me they wish they hadn’t done it,” said Reedy about the volunteer drivers, who come out and donate their time, vehicle and gas to deliver meals. “Every family that asks it, needs it,” added Reedy.

Reedy and the initiative are looking for both donations and volunteers. The event will need about 30 drivers, and Reedy is not sure, with COVID-19, how families will be affected, “we don’t know quite what to expect this year, with jobs and Covid,” however, there could be more in need this year than ever before. The initiative usually gets help from several of the program school kids, and from the church, however that alone will still leave the operation shorthanded. For those interested in participating in the operation, they can call (406) 827-3706 or (406)827-9434.

Reedy explains that many of the helpers and donations come from those who have benefitted in the past, and in fact the first two donations this year came from those who had been recipients of baskets in the past. According to Reedy, “The giving part of Thanksgiving is what this is all about.”