There are many reasons the holidays are busy, whether it is the rush to buy presents, prepare big meals, decorate the house, or traveling to see loved ones. In all the busyness of the holidays though, many people still find time to make the holiday season a little better for others through giving to a good cause, volunteering, or doing both.
That was the case for a group of about 15 volunteers spent over two hours on a Friday night, Nov. 20, preparing holiday food boxes for the less-fortunate at the Otisville Presbyterian Church. At the beginning, the mandate was to fill 54 boxes with canned goods, stuffing, turkey, produce, juice, bread and dry goods to feed a family. Once all the food was added however, it was more like 2-3 boxes per family.
The generous food donation was made possible by the church’s own pantry, the local Girl Scout, Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops, the Minisink Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, the Otisville Lions Club, the Otisville Federal Correction Institution, and the Otisville VFW 5497.
The volunteers worked industriously, bringing boxes of food from the pantry in the basement, organizing them on tables with signs for each category and then, once filled, organizing them with a common number scheme in the hallway for pickup. Just as the last boxes were being put out for pickup, word comes from the local Kiwanis club that 17 more boxes were needed. Without batting an eye, the volunteers set to work preparing the extra boxes with whatever was left. After some confusion about the naming convention the new boxes were filled, labeled, and put in a side room for pickup.
It was a very similar scene at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Middletown on Nov. 23—volunteers bustled around preparing boxes and bags for an anticipated 200 families in the greater Middletown area. Two large rooms with tables lining the walls were all filled with bags and boxes of food, an extra large quantity for the holidays.
