Thank to the generosity of the community and its many volunteers, the Rhineland Empty Stocking Fund was able to make the holiday season a little brighter for hundreds of people in the Altona area last weekend.
A couple dozen delivery drivers came out Saturday to help the Rhineland Empty Stocking Fund get its hampers out to recipients in time for the holidays
Saturday morning, the organization’s army of volunteers mobilized to deliver a record-setting 256 care hampers to families in need in Altona, Gretna, Rosenfeld, Plum Coulee, and throughout the Municipality of Rhineland.
That’s up from about 240 hampers last year, and represents 467 adults and 408 children, shares committee chair Ang Dueck, noting they’ve seen the need increase significantly the last several Christmases.
“We’ve had a lot of people moving into the area from other communities and even other countries,” she said. “And the cost of groceries is always going up.”
Each recipient family receives wrapped presents for their children and grocery gift cards to the local IGA and Co-op scaled to the number of people in the household.
The gift cards give recipients the opportunity to purchase food their family will actually use, Dueck explained.
“We have such a diversity of cultures in our communities,” she observed. “This way they can go get what they need to make what they want.”
The campaign is made possible thanks to the donations that pour in from the community at large each year.
“The community is very supportive of us,” Dueck said, noting that with rising grocery costs, this year’s campaign budget is about $75,000, and they’re still very much collecting donations to cover those costs.
Donations can be dropped off at the Access Credit Union branches in Altona or Plum Coulee or sent by e-transfer to rhinelandesf@gmail.com.
“Thank you to all the volunteers that came out to do the driving for the deliveries, and to the community for their donations, and to our Empty Stocking Fund board for all the work that they’ve done,” Dueck said.
