HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP — The bounty took months to gather, but in just 20 minutes volunteers from Geneva area safety forces organized, packed and loaded boxes of food and gifts for 37 families in the annual Share-Christmas drive.
The volunteers moved from box to box at the Northwest Ambulance District headquarters, loading each with eggs, milk, bread, stuffing, pies and turkeys for the 20th annual holiday effort.
Fueled by donations from local businesses and residents, Share A Christmas, sponsored by the Geneva Area Safety Forces, gives large boxes of food, toys for each child and blankets for small children, to families in need.
“I was amazed,” Geneva Fire Chief Doug Starkey said. “Donations were actually up this year, and I think that really speaks about how people recognize the need locally.”
This year the drive benefits 37 families including 87 children and 62 adults for the holiday, Share A Christmas organizer Rhonda Baehr said.
Starkey said the help wouldn’t be possible without “significant and reliable community support. In fact, we were so fortunate in donations this year that we were able to buy more toys for the children.”
The safety forces use donations to purchase more goods for the food baskets. The money also is used for the hat and mittens program for children, which was instituted two years ago. Money donations are accepted at area safety-forces offices all through the year.
Starkey said local businesses line up to help with the yearly drive.
“We can’t talk about Share-A-Christmas and not mention Giant Eagle,” Starkey said. “They give so much.”
Starkey said Kiwanis Club of Geneva and Operation Food Basket also pitch in as major sponsors.
Police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians from Geneva, Geneva-on-the-Lake, Geneva Township, Harpersfield Township and NAD, along with their families, spent Monday evening packing and delivering the boxes. The volunteers bumped into each other in the crowded ambulance bays, as there were so many people on hand to help.
“Earlier today Rhonda asked me if I thought we would have enough people to help out,” Starkey said. “There is a lot going on tonight. We are missing part of the city Christmas party and everyone has other commitments and things to do, but they are still here.”
Cindy Stoltz and 4-year-old son R.J. Stoltz helped put cans of green beans into the big boxes.
“This is the first year we came in to help,” Stoltz said. “We had a blast and we will definitely come in again next year.”
R.J. said he is ready for Santa and a sleigh full of toys.
“I want a dirt bike and a snowmobile,” he said. “I am a fireman, just like my dad and we help people, so we are on the nice list.”
Stoltz said she will volunteer at the pasta dinner for the needy tonight at Ferrante’s Winery and Ristorante, where anyone who needs a hot meal is welcome. Food baskets will also be available.
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Geneva safety forces pack baskets for needy families families in need
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