Cars entering the Eufaula Free Will Baptist Church parking lot began lining up at about 7 a.m. Saturday for the annual Christmas Basket Program sponsored by God’s Helping Hands. Boxes
Cars entering the Eufaula Free Will Baptist Church parking lot began lining up at about 7 a.m. Saturday for the annual Christmas Basket Program sponsored by God’s Helping Hands.
Boxes filled with canned goods, bread, ham and other food items.
“This year we are giving away 375 boxes, which will help 1,074 individuals,” said Paula Freeman, co-ordinator of the annual event.
Volunteers handed out the boxes between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
By 9 a.m., the line of cars stretched from the church to State Highway
9.
“A few always show up early,” said Richard Mc-Cool, director of God’s Helping Hands. “But there is no need to. If you have a voucher, you will be given a box.” To receive a Christmas box, people must sign up and receive a voucher. Not everyone who receives a voucher shows up for their box, which means usually there are a few boxes left over. “We set those outside the door and anyone can pick them up, on a first-come basis,” McCool said. In addition to the dozens of cars outside the church waiting to pick up boxes, inside the church’s auditorium are dozens of volunteers who are loading the boxes onto dollies that will be wheeled to the pickup point and unloaded. “I call it controlled chaos,” McCool said. He attributed the relatively smooth operation to the organizational talents of Freeman. She said when she became coordinator, the distribution process was already pretty well established. “I just tweaked it a bit,” she said. The food giveaway program could not be successful without an army of volunteers – among them 5th grade students from Eufaula Middle School who sorted the foods for packing and about 100 members of E-merge – a group of young people from local churches – who helped pack the food. More than 50 community volunteers helped distribute the boxes on Saturday. “We begin meeting in September to make plans,” Freeman said. Plans include food drives and seeking cash donations. Freeman said the project would not be possible without the generosity of so many people who donated food and money. Sharon Burns is the food coordinator. Alpha Packaging of Greenwood, Ark., donated the boxes used in the giveaway. Community food banks contribute food. “The cost of the giveaway is between $10,000 and $12,000,” Freeman said.
