Church offers help for holiday

Last Saturday more than 30 volunteers gathered at the Community Congregational Church to put together 76 Thanksgiving baskets for 235 people of the Sanders County community.

"They get everything for a typical Thanksgiving dinner, and each basket has $100 to $140 worth of food," said Ron Reedy, who helped prepare the volunteers. Reedy went on to say that while the number of baskets is going down each year that's not something to worry about, rather something to be happy about.

"We have never turned anyone down, and we had 52 families in Thompson Falls and about 25 in the Trout Creek to Heron area this year. Feels like we are in big business." Reedy stated.

At 10 a.m. sharp Reedy handed out to volunteers lists of what items needed to be boxed and how many each box received. From cans of yams to fresh produce each box got enough to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, whether you were a single family or a large family with six or more people. Like worker bees, each volunteer worked swiftly to package the dry goods, then a line was formed to give the boxes the fresh produce led by head kitchen volunteer Betty Kenney.

"I just make sure that each family gets the correct number of veggies, but I have a lot of help this year from the Menonites," said Kenney.

Like clockwork an hour later the baskets were ready for delivery, with the volunteers taking two orthree baskets to deliver.

"It's amazing to be a part of something like this; it's really a great way to build the community," said second year volunteer Ashley McAdam.

"We are really grateful for Harvest Foods. They work with us weeks in advance, and we are fortunate to have them. A big thank you to them for all their help," Reedy stated.