The Paridon Horticultural Ltd. warehouse in East Delta once again served as the hub for Deltassist’s annual Christmas hamper program.
Bob Taggart, part of a team of volunteer coordinators that included Brian Rainbow, Phil Easdown, David Fredricksen and David Olson, noted the warehouse opens its doors for the hamper effort well ahead of Christmas.
“Without them we’d be lost,” he says, wanting to extend thanks to Paridon.
Volunteers sort and distribute hundreds of food hampers to less fortunate families throughout Delta as part of the program. The hampers, approximately 600 this year, are set to be delivered tomorrow.
Taggart, a longtime volunteer, says it’s fantastic to see people come together to help the less fortunate.
“I think that’s why everybody’s here,” he says, noting it’s typical to see people keep coming back to help after initially volunteering.
This year the need is down (a reflection that the economy has picked up and more people are working) and there have been more food donations, says Fredricksen.
“It’s a happy story, to me,” he says.
Extra food will be passed along to the food bank.
Many of the volunteers are local service club members.
They make food pickups, sort through the items, put together hampers and then distribute them to clients, explains Deltassist community services coordinator Colleen Danes.
“They’re just … rock stars,” says Danes of the volunteer effort.
Typical hamper contents:
