by Dave Warner
This is the start of the holiday season, and a group of volunteers got together last week to deliver 125 turkey baskets to area families. The Little Falls Food Pantry teamed up with local donors, foundations, and the Little Falls Volunteer Corp to make sure that the deliveries were made.
The baskets were packaged at the Food Pantry and then the volunteers showed up in timed shifts to deliver them to the correct homes. Tony DeLuca, Executive Director of the Food Pantry said, “All in all, it’s a community effort to serve the families. As you can imagine, it’s a time of great need and we’re happy that we were able to provide this service.”
On Thanksgiving Day, Canal Side Inn will be delivering meals. DeLuca said, “Once again, Chef John will be preparing meals and the Little Falls Volunteer Corps, as well as friends and family of Canal Side Inn, will be distributing the meals directly to the family’s homes.”
He went on to say that they plan to continue to do this kind of meal delivery for the holidays that are coming up, including Christmas and Easter. “The Food Pantry has been doing this for almost three decades now and even during our hardest times, we’re able to put enough resources together to do it.”
Katie Drake was one of the Little Falls Volunteer Corps members involved and stated, “This year has been very challenging for a lot of people, both personally, professionally and especially mentally. Volunteering is so important because it’s actually a way to feel a little bit better and just kind of bring some joy to others while bringing some internal joy to you as well.”
She said, “It makes me feel good. It helps my mental health.”