Santa Claus Comes to Glide
(and he wears a scout uniform)

For over 25 years, Boy Scout Troop 112 in Glide has sponsored a Holiday Food Basket Program.  Hundreds of hungry people receive a huge load of food and their kids get presents.  Every year it gets bigger and better organized.  In 2000, 84 households were served. In 2011, it was 204. 

Planning starts in earnest with an October team kick-off meeting.  Each member of the team handles a specialized piece of the project. Some team members have collected boxes throughout the year, and they start making sure we have enough. The scoutmaster devotes himself to soliciting donations of food and money.  And he is VERY good at that job.  Members of the team who volunteer at Helping Hands food pantry gather names of recipients.  Two other members run the "technology center," generating public service announcements, printing solicitation and thank you letters, and creating the recipient database.  Still more take on wrapping the hundreds of gifts brought back to the Tag Tree set up in the Illahee Restaurant.

Thanksgiving week, a giving-tree is set up in a Glide restaurant.  Tags for the needy children and seniors are hung there.  People are asked to pick up a tag or two and purchase gifts.  If any names are left on the tree, someone goes out and purchases gifts with donated funds.

It all comes together the weekend before Christmas.  That Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are busy days for a lot of people.  Here's a quick look at what happens.

Thursday, as soon as school dismisses for Christmas vacation, canned goods are delivered to the HS cafeteria. Food drives from Glide to Diamond Lake collect about 3 tons of non-perishable food.	Simultaneously, the task of labeling boxes begins.
376 labeled and empty boxes Thursday night, assembled and ready in the high school cafeteria.	Friday morning the scouts, Glide Honor Society, and community volunteers sort the canned goods and fill the boxes.
FAQ: Are plums a fruit or a vegetable? Does tomato soup go with soups or tomatoes? What do I do with enchilada sauce?	After sorting is finished, teams distribute one commodity at a time to every household -- there are two boxes per family. This team is doing tuna.
Boy Scout assembly line
There's more than the tons brought in by food drives.  The scoutmaster has used donated money to buy cases and cases of groceries, which line a nearby hall waiting to be distributed.  These items include: cranberry sauce, soup, canned peaches, peanut butter, jelly, pancake mix, syrup, instant oatmeal, chili, cooking oil, stuffing mix, tuna, ketchup, mayo, onions, potatoes, carrots, oranges, apples, bananas, toilet paper, paper towels, tooth brushes, and tooth paste.  Whew!  And for appropriate households there's baby food and diapers.
In recent years SOOOOO many items are donated that the recipients wouldn't be able to store it all. Extra donations are boxed up and delivered to the food pantry. We always get hundreds of packages of ramen noodle soup.	The filled boxes, ready and waiting to be delivered. (There were 40 more in the hallway.)
Saturday morning is wild and crazy.  All the Scouts show up bright and early in uniform with a mom or dad, eager to begin. Two boxes per household are waiting to be loaded into cars and trucks.  A third box will be added with perishable items: eggs, milk, margarine, frozen orange juice, cheese, bread, ham, and a turkey or chicken depending upon the size of the family.  A team of non-scout volunteers work creating that third box.
Saturday morning, scouts begin carting boxes out to cars.	It takes a lot of effort to move that much food in such a short time.
Scouts haul out the boxes.	The scouts really get into the spirit of the season.
Sunday parents come to the food pantry to pick up brightly-wrapped presents for their kids.
Over the years:
2009                                                                                         2010
2011
The stories the Scouts come back with never fail to touch everyone's hearts.       "If it wasn't for your generous food boxes we wouldn't have much of  a holiday week."           "I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you do."               "It's nice to know that people care. I'm really touched."                    "Blessed are the givers." And some Scouts say that the recipients just cried and hugged them.