There were toys, toys and more toys, being seized by kids. There were dour dads and dads playing with sock puppets.
And it was still a week until Christmas.
The Fort Bragg Food Bank has been giving away toys and Christmas joy for the past two weeks.
Christmas week the community”s food pantry is packed on Monday, closed Tuesday and open to huge crowds on Wednesday and today. In addition to food, today there will be free leashes and flea treatments for clients” dogs from Second Chance Rescue.
And this year everybody seems to have been donating stuff for the kids, with many handmade items wrapped by chief elf Nancy Milano. Cheshire Books is providing new books through its “Bookraiser” program again this year. Santa is Tony Anderson again this year.
Tammy, 8, found the brand name coat with hood she had been looking for. Finding that on the free rack clearly made her early Christmas. She forgot about the toys and beamed as she wore the jacket.
“The Food Bank is sure appreciated for everything they do,” said her dad. He didn”t want his name to be in the newspaper. Could we use Tammy”s? Dad left that up to her. She looked at her parents and then nodded with a smile. She was proud of her coat, which some parent had donated in near perfect condition.
Her older brother, Tyler, 12, wasn”t too sure about being in the paper. First he said no, then changed his mind when he got talking about the Food Bank.
“This is a fun place, I like coming here. There is a lot of free stuff and you never know what you are going to find,” said Tyler.
Kids always seem to be having fun at the Food Bank, while their parents worry about the financial situation. This year, though, there are more goodies than ever.
The Food Bank is offering the choice of ham, roaster chicken or turkeys to clients for their Christmas dinner. An unexpectedly large crowd at Thanksgiving used up more of the turkey-buying money than had been planned. But maybe folks are tired of turkey by now.
Season of Sharing
This series supports the Advocate-News” and The Mendocino Beacon”s annual Season of Sharing fund drive for the Food Bank. The goal is to give the Food Bank money it can use locally year-round, not just during the holidays.
Last year, $23,013was donated, which brought the total raised since our first fund drive in 1995 to $185,890.
The nonprofit Community Foundation of Mendocino County administers the Season of Sharing free of charge as a courtesy to the newspapers. Every cent taken in by the newspapers is given to the Food Bank.
Checks should be made out to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County (CFMC), and mailed to the newspaper at P.O. Box 1188, Fort Bragg, 95437, or dropped off at 450 N. Franklin St. If you have any questions, please call us at 964-5642.
The fundraiser runs through next Friday, Dec. 31. Donors” names are printed each week, unless they ask to remain anonymous.
As of Tuesday, donations jumped since last week”s total of $6,675 to $31,049. We thank Myra Beals and Ida Matson, D. and C. Gittins, D”Ann Finley, Susan Larkin and James Ehlers, Mary Handelin, B. Boyd and Kathryn Hight, Linda Jupiter, Robert, Janice and Lindsay Ball, Bruce and Roslyn Moore, Patricia Sinkay in honor of Alice Ivec, Alice Gillespie, Alliance Support Partners, Inc., Charles and Linda Eyerly, Gin Paul Kremen, Michael and Mary Schuh, Jeanette Hansen, Robert and Mary Gerbi, Richard and Lillian Goodman, Frank and Shirley Collins, Margaret and Celeste Fox-Kump and five anonymous donors.
