Sorting And Boxing Up Christmas Cheer
Oskaloosa Middle School Student Council members helped to unload trucks of food for the holiday food basket program.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The feeling of Christmas cheer was defeating the cold wind of winter as Oskaloosa Rotary members and Oskaloosa Middle School student council members prepared over 500 Christmas dinner boxes.
That huge number of boxes are custom filled, sized to match the number of recipients! Smaller boxes for families of 1 or 2, with the largest size assembled for families of 5 or more.
To put the project into a perspective, nearly 1500 people, or almost 7% of the residents in Mahaska County, benefit from the annual programme.
Rotary begins to collect donations early in the year to help offset the program cost of nearly $20,000. The project’s roots dates back more than 30 years when the Rotary took over from the Human Resources Council.
Jill Brumbaugh, from the Oskaloosa Rotary said that taking over the project “was a match made in heaven” for the group, as they had the manpower and resources to help carry the project forward.
“We just have so much fun getting kids involved”, added Brumbaugh.
Unloading and packaging all that food takes a lot of energy. That energy and enthusiasm is provided by some eager Oskaloosa Middle School students, who help unload and organize all of the food.
Approximately 30 student council members lugged boxes of canned goods, fresh produce and everything else that would be packaged up, from the truck to the assembly line.
Oskaloosa Middle School student council member Abby said the experience made her feel good, “I’m happy to help people out”.
“It makes me feel happy to be helping the community and helping people”, added Kaylie, also a student council member.
Oskaloosa Middle School teacher Kirsten Stek said “it’s wonderful to see the kids pitching in and doing their part. We have a lot of people in our community that need our support and it’s just a wonderful day to be able to do that.”
The boxes contain fresh fruit and produce, a variety of canned goods, and packaged items like stuffing and gelatin. Each basket also contains a ham, along with milk, eggs and bread.
