What has changed this year is the number of baskets being prepared.
“We’re flooded with requests,” Van Sandt said.
Last year, the Lions distributed 70 baskets to members of the community whose tables might have been bare otherwise.
“This year, we have requests for 80 baskets. That’s 150 people or more. And that’s a 20 to 25 percent increase in people,” Van Sandt said, comparing it to 2005.
Putting items in the baskets is possible due to an outpouring of donations of food and financial support from the Homer Community Food Pantry, Homer Emblem Club, Catholic Women’s Services, Homer Kachemak Bay Rotary, the American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary and Sons of the American Legion, as well as the Girl Scouts, members of Van Sandt’s family and three private donations.
“They’ve been really good this year. Everybody does their part. And, of course, the Lions picks up the difference,” Van Sandt said.
Applications were accepted through Wednesday, and the baskets will be put together at Friendship Center Saturday morning, beginning at 10 a.m. Donations of food, including frozen turkeys and vegetables, will still be accepted through the morning.
Recipients of the baskets can pick the food up from 1-2 p.m.
“If they can’t pick them up, they need to have someone pick them up for them,” Van Sandt said. “We don’t have the means for delivering them.
Food baskets for people who don’t have a family with whom to share Thanksgiving dinner are being put together by the Homer Community Food Pantry, according to Diana Jeska, president of the pantry’s board of directors.
“It’ll be game hens or chickens, pumpkin and pie crust materials, stuffing, cranberry sauce, that kind of things,” Jeska said, adding that the pantry is also desperately low on some items. “We’re really low on things like eggs and bread and we sure could use some yams.”
With summer activities ended and temperatures dropping over the last three months, the number of food boxes being distributed by the pantry has jumped to 700, an increase of about 200, Jeska said.
“It’s just that people don’t have jobs anymore and fishing has stopped,” she said. “We’re also seeing a lot younger group of people.”
With an eye toward the holiday season ahead, applications are now available for Share the Sprit, a local program that puts together gifts for community members.
“They have to have a human service agency or a pastor’s signature to verify the need, so the applications are at local human service agencies,” said Shari Daugherty, who coordinated the program.
Examples of where the applications can be found are the Homer Community Food Pantry, at the Public Health Nurse, Haven House, Seldovia Village Tribe Health Center, Refuge Chapel and NAMI. Deadline to submit a food and gift basket application is Dec. 8; deadline for food baskets only is Dec. 13. Basket pick-up day is Dec. 19. Only applicants who are contacted by Share the Spirit by Dec. 18 will receive a basket.
A coordinator also is needed for the Dec. 12 spaghetti feed that helps raise money to buy food for Share the Spirit’s basket program.
“The people that have been doing it for several years will be out of town, so we’re looking for another group to step up and take it on,” Daugherty said.
For more information on Thanksgiving baskets being prepared by Kachemak Bay Lions, call 235-8761. For information on Share the Spirit, call 235-7466. Donations to the food pantry can be made between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Mondays. The pantry is located in the basement of Homer United Methodist Church, 770 East End Road.
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.
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