News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters community reached out a helping hand this holiday season, providing gifts and food baskets to Sisters families in need.
The Kiwanis food basket program distributed 83 turkey or ham Christmas dinners with all the trimmings, and 130 gifts were provided for Sisters kids through the Giving Tree located at Ray's Food Place.
Kiwanis reported receiving a little over $3,700 in cash donations, most of which went to the food bank; the remainder was used for the gift fund.
The Furry Friends pet food drive provided food for 218 animals among 59 Sisters families.
"Everything went well," said Kiwanis organizer Katie Powers. "We had a lot of volunteers. We had people bringing food to the firehall as we were putting things together."
The drive got off to a slow start early in the season, but "everybody just came forward," Powers said, providing ample food to meet the need. Families applied for the food basket program based on meeting an income level requirement. The Central Oregon Salvation Army also referred Sisters area families to the program.
According to Powers, a local church donated three big turkeys for people with extra-large families. A local contractor brought three bicycles to the firehall to be distributed as gifts.
Community members provided a large amount of winter clothing for children through the Kiwanis Giving Tree. According to Sue Durbin, who ran the Giving Tree program, 72 families applied for gifts; 130 ornaments were hung on the tree to be picked by community members.
Almost all the requests listed on the ornaments were for warm clothing, Durban said, and there was a "very good response from the community.
In addition, there were 15 requests for coats, which were distributed through the Sisters Rotary Coats for Kids program. Sisters Rotary also led 22 Sisters children on their annual shopping expedition, where children used $50 each in donated funds to purchase gifts for their families.
Some Sisters merchants stayed open late for the event.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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