The Paridon Horticultural warehouse in East Delta was abuzz with activity last Wednesday when the Optimist dropped by to talk about this year’s Deltassist Christmas hamper program.
Volunteers, mainly from local service clubs, were busy putting together hampers of food headed for less fortunate families across Delta. Delivery was scheduled to take place Saturday.
Work was ahead of schedule as of last Wednesday, said Mike Hatfield, a member of the TOOBs service club.
“We’re getting a lot of help in here,” he said, noting 20 to 30 helpers had showed on a daily basis.
Hatfield estimated approximately 545 hampers would be delivered. Left over food goes to local food banks.
This is the first hamper program since longtime organizer George Koka passed away. Koka developed some great contacts to help “get things done” and set up a good system, said Hatfield.
“A lot of stuff we’ve been doing for years so we’re pretty comfortable with it. But we make a few mistakes ... but we have lots of help to extricate us from that,” he said.
Hatfield has been lending a hand for close to 10 years.
Ladner Legion member Bob Taggart has been helping for three decades. For the last while he’s stayed at the warehouse to help organize but he used to deliver hampers.
“Seeing the look on some of the kids’ faces, it was worth it,” he said.
He noted sometimes people, who’ve received a hamper in the past and now want to donate their time to give back, show up to help.
“We see quite a bit of that,” he said.
Students from McCloskey Elementary also dropped by last Wednesday at the Paridon warehouse to help out.
Deltassist Christmas programs co-ordinator Christiann Munro noted there are also close to 80 families who come to the Deltassist office to pick up a sponsored food hamper.
Community effort required to get hampers filled and delivered:
Donations were received from:
• Paridon Horticultural Ltd. (use of warehouse)
• Norampac (1,200 boxes)
• Schools that collected canned goods
• Bates Brothers (use of a five-ton truck)
• Lions Gate Fisheries (totes)
• Felix Farms, Bates Bros. Farm, Emma Lea Farms, Brent Kelly Farm, Rod Burr Farm, Rod Swenson Farms
• Kings Links Golf Course (3,600 boxes of Kraft Dinner)
Food purchased at cost from:
• Save-On-Foods (oranges, turkeys, cranberries)
• Bargain Shop
• Lyle Vidulich (apples)
Contributions to the program were made by:
• Deltassist
• Delta elementary and secondary schools
• Elks Club
• Ladner/Tsawwassen Kinsmen
• Ladner/Tsawwassen Kiwanis
• Ladner/Tsawwassen Legion
• Ladner/North Delta/Tsawwassen Boundary Bay/Scottsdale Lions
• Ladner/North Delta/Tsawwassen Rotary
• TOOBs
• Ladies’ Ladner Aux. Br. 61
• South Delta Baptist Church
• Tsawwassen United Church
• All Saints Ladner
• Crescent Downs Social Comm.
• Delta Agricultural Society
• Shriners
• Gerald Bramhill
• Roy Manning
Hamper contents:
1 turkey
10 to 12 cans of soup
10 cans of vegetables
4 cans of fruit
4 to 6 cans of fish
4 to 6 cans of pasta
1 can of cranberry jelly
10 lbs of potatoes
4 lbs of turnips
8 to 10 apples
1 large/2 small packs of dry pasta
8 oranges
10 boxes of Kraft Dinner
10 packs of dry noodles
1 box of cookies
1 carton of candy canes
2 loaves of bread
Pork and beans
* Extra large families receive additional food
* Families with infants receive baby food and formula
