How you can help the less fortunate this holiday season
The Idaho Falls Community Food Basket partnered up with local community members to put more than 100 turkey dinners on the tables of the less fortunate this Thanksgiving.
Volunteers filled boxes Monday morning with one turkey breast, gravy and mashed potatoes. The turkey meals came from Albertsons through their Turkey Bucks donation program.
The program gave people the opportunity to donate $1, $5 and up to $10, the donations were than used towards supplying Thanksgiving dinners to local food banks. According to Albertsons online web page they’ve partnered up with local food banks and charitable organizations across the U.S. to help families who are in need.
The Albertsons corporation isn’t the only one’s getting into the holiday spirit. The Idaho Falls Fire Department stopped by Ball Packing to lend a hand. About ten firefighter recruits volunteered to move turkeys from the Ball Packing freezer to a moving truck.
A truck full of turkeys was transported to the Community Food Basket where volunteers then distributed the turkeys to boxes full of other Thanksgiving items.
The Idaho Falls Division Chief Jeff Parsons said he and his wife volunteer once a week at the Community Food Basket and wanted to lend an extra hand.
“Being a member of the fire department is all about service and so we try to pitch in where ever we can. Sometimes we respond with fire engines and ambulances and sometimes we just help out when people need a hand,” Parsons said.
The Community Food Basket Idaho Falls Executive Director Bud Langerak said they are ready to serve families who are in need.
“We are expecting to feed about 400 people. This has been a tradition for several years for us and we are just so excited to be a part of helping the community,” Langerak said.
Parsons adds that they are excited to have so many local volunteers.”We are excited to have the Idaho Falls Fire Department Division Chiefs help hand out holiday boxes. It will be a very busy day. But with their help, it should go smoothly.”
“We are so blessed in this community to have the amount of volunteers that we do. It takes about 80 to 90 volunteers to keep us running,” Langerak said.
Volunteers will be passing out holiday boxes from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday through Friday they distribute from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., this year the food basket will be closed on Thursday and Friday.
To find out how you can volunteer visit https://www.communityfoodbasketidahofalls.org.
