News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
One of the most important holiday traditions for the Sisters community involves offering holiday hope and cheer to families in need.
The Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District is in the midst of its annual Spirit of Christmas -- Toys for Kids program, which provides gifts for children.
Donors pick up an ornament from the Spirit of Christmas Tree at Ray's Food Place and provide an appropriate gift for the child listed on the ornament. The ornaments don't name a specific child for privacy reasons; fire personnel match gifts with the designated children later.
Gifts should be left unwrapped. Firefighters and volunteers will wrap them up and distribute them. The deadline for providing gifts is December 18.
"We encourage gifts of clothing items, because that's what the children really need," said Fire Chief Don Rowe.
According to Rowe, the children are qualified through the Kiwanis Food Basket Program. However, any child in need may be a candidate.
"If you know a child in need, let us know and we'll make up an ornament for them," Rowe said.
Call 549-0771.
The fire district also provides a Christmas Dinner at 1 p.m. on December 25.
Sisters High School is sponsoring a canned food drive December 11-18. Donors may drop off donations at the Sisters High School office. Students will be doing door-to-door collections on December 14 and 15.
The high school Key Club will collect clothes and toys. To contribute, call 549-4045, or leave your donations at the high school office.
The Sisters Kiwanis Christmas Food Basket Project is now taking donations to assemble the baskets, which will be delivered to qualified families on December 21.
Checks may be made out to the Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank, P.O. Box 1296, Sisters, Oregon 97759.
For more information contact Katie Powers at 548-2156 or Glenn Keeran at 549-8059.
In conjunction with the food basket program is The Furry Friends Pet Food Drive, which helps ensure that pets are well fed. Dry pet food donations may be made at The Nugget office, 442 E. Main Ave.
Currently the drive is well short of the food needed to provide for the pets in need.
Cash donations are welcome and 100 percent of the funds go to purchase pet food.
For information call 549-9941.
Paulina Springs Book Company is supporting the Sisters area SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) and Head Start programs with an Angel Tree.
Donors take an angel from the Christmas tree inside the bookstore, bring it to the checkout counter with a children's book and get a 10 percent discount on the book.
Paulina Springs wraps the book and gets it to the SMART and Head Start organizations in time for a Christmas delivery.
For more information call 549-0866.
Sisters Rotary will conduct its annual Shopping Tour on Saturday, December 14. Some 25 to 28 children of pre-school to middle school age will be provided with funds to shop for their families for Christmas.
Rotarians will accompany the children on their tour of Sisters shops. The children also get lunch and a gift for themselves.
Les Schwab Taylor Tire Center is collecting Coats for Kids.
Donated coats, which should be clean and in good repair, may be dropped off at the store in Sisters or at other Les Schwab locations.
The coats are distributed for Christmas throughout Central Oregon.
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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