Volunteers bring joy to Sisters families

If giving to your neighbor is the true spirit of Christmas, Sisters had it in spades this year. Some 130 families received Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, toys and treats for their pets thanks to a massive volunteer effort that included the Kiwanis Club of Sisters, the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District and The Nugget Furry Friends.

The Kiwanis Club of Sisters has sponsored the Christmas Food Share program for more than 15 years. Qualified families apply for a helping hand and volunteers gather and package the food for distribution.

Over time, the fire department came on board to add a toy drive and Furry Friends pitched in to gather food for pets.

The three organizations combined at least 112 individuals who turned in over 600 volunteer hours to make the program a success. The Nugget’s “Furry Friends” program collected pet food for 92 families, supported by dozens of individual donations and contributions from Hartz, American Nutrition and Ray’s Food Place.

The fire department has always collected toys, from balls and dolls to new bicycles and snowboards. This year despite efforts by schools, service clubs and others, they were prepared to make a severe cutback in their children’s toy program due to lack of funds.

At the last minute, however, they made an appeal to the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce who in turn appealed to the chamber membership and others and raised over $3,000.

Many volunteers from the fire department turned this cash into toys and the program was a rousing success.

From funds contributed by many supporters, the Kiwanis club gathered turkeys or hams, eggs, bread, stuffing, potatoes, onions, milk (fresh and evaporated), butter, canned fruits and vegetables, sugar, flour, apples, oranges, candy, rolls, apple juice, pie crust mix, pumpkin pie filling, cranberry jelly, cake mix, icing, Jell-O, mayonnaise and more to create a Christmas dinner.

Volunteers sorted, labeled and packed the food, which was organized in the Sisters Elementary School Commons, along with the fire department toys and sorted and labeled pet food from the Furry Friends Pet Food Drive.

The families then turned out on Friday, December 23, to collect their meals, toys and pet food — along with holiday cheer from dozens of volunteers who believe that giving is the true spirit of the holidays.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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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