Christmas donations help 135 families celebrate the holiday

The Christmas holiday serves as an opportunity for families to gather together and enjoy one another’s company. During the day, families sit down to enjoy a large holiday meal and share in the joy of the day.

But for many families, a traditional Christmas meal is something they cannot afford. With the costs of buying gifts and honoring traditions, the meal is one aspect of the day that can be neglected for those who are unable to buy the full spread of food.

The Ritzville Food Pantry has worked for years to ensure all families in the area are able to provide their family with a full meal. This year, the local pantry worked with community members to collect food to fill 135 boxes for families to provide them with a full meal.

Ritzville Food Pantry Director Carol Ewing said the pantry purchases all of the turkeys for the meal, while area churches team up to buy all of the “trimmings” for a traditional dinner. The Lind-Ritzville School District also teamed up with the pantry to supply multiple food donations.

Ewing estimated the school districts donated 750 pounds of food for local families.

While the churches and the pantry work on providing all of the typical foods for a Christmas dinner, the donations from the school district serve as food for the family to utilize before or after the holiday.

On Wednesday, Dec. 16, volunteers gathered at the American Legion Hall to help divide the donations into boxes for the local families. The boxes were supplied with food according to how many members of the family there were and Ewing estimated on average, the boxes weighed between 25-50 pounds.

Every box was also supplied with onions, potatoes and bananas that had been donated to the pantry. The variety in donations ensured all the families would receive foods they could utilize in their homes.

Many of the volunteers assisting with the distribution of food came from local churches, while the pantry’s normal volunteer staff also attended to help. The Associated Student Body (ASB) officers from Lind-Ritzville Middle School also made the trip to assist with the distribution of food donations.

While volunteers worked to divide the food, organized the night prior by Ewing, the ASB officers assisted with moving the boxes and preparing them for delivery. Many of the boxes were picked up at the local pantry, while other boxes were delivered to Lind and Hatton by volunteer drivers.

In total, it took the volunteers an hour and a half to separate and divide the food for families. Ewing said the volunteers set up an assembly line production to make the distribution more efficient, and everyone seemed to enjoy their role in helping provide area families with meals.

Ewing said in order to determine the families in need, the pantry had a sign up list in the building for individuals to register their families on.

The local school districts also made a list of families who could utilize the donations.

The importance of the event and the distribution of food donations are to make sure every local family has a meal to enjoy on Christmas Day.

A simple tradition of spending the day surrounded by family while enjoying a home cooked, quality meal is an important factor to the holiday season.

Ewing said it is important to remember many families in the area are also in need of food year round, not just at the holidays.

Typically, the food pantry sees an abundance of donations during the holidays, but the donations tend to diminish after the new year.

The Ritzville Food Pantry is always in need of canned foods, Ewing said, especially items like tuna or peanut butter.

The pantry could also use donations of plastic bags for patrons of the pantry to use to carry their canned goods home in.

The pantry is open for donations and distributions every Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. The pantry is located at 104 West Main Street in downtown Ritzville.

The donations provided by local residents are a testament to the strength and caring nature of small communities.

Ewing said she would like to extend her gratitude to the community and churches for their donations, as well as all of the volunteers who helped 135 local families have an opportunity to sit down for a traditional Christmas dinner this holiday season.