The Crookston Community Christmas Food Basket Committee will once again be helping families in need this holiday season. Due to COVID-19, instead of packing boxes for families this year, they will be mailing out gift cards to Hugo’s Family Marketplace in Crookston for families to buy groceries.
Greg LeBlanc is the Chair of the Committee along with his wife Marlene, and he talked about why he first got involved. “I got involved because when the kids were younger, we would help fill the boxes and volunteer our time for those in need,” said LeBlanc. “It’s really what Christmas is about rather than just receiving presents, so that’s why I got involved.”
According to LeBlanc, the Food Basket Committee and project have been around for 52 years. LeBlanc also said the keyword to the entire project is “Community” because without the giving community of Crookston or the committee’s hard work and volunteers hard work; the project wouldn’t be possible.
The Crookston High School partnered with the project last year to help pass out the gifts to the families and help raise money for the project. LeBlanc said the kids at the school loved being involved with the project. “The winter sports teams had a competition last year to see who could raise the most money for the project,” said LeBlanc. “Then once we received the money, I got the gift cards, got them back to the kids, and the school helped pass them out to the families.”
151 Letters have already been sent out to businesses in the Crookston area asking if they’d like to donate this year and help raise funds for all the families in need. The Crookston High School will also be having their competition again this year to see which winter sports team can raise the most money for the project. Donations will end on December 10, so if you’re interested in helping with the project, you can send a monetary donation by making the gift payable to “Community Christmas Food Baskets” and sending it to Trinity Lutheran Church P.O. Box 598, Crookston, MN, 56716.
LeBlanc also went over how families who need the groceries can sign up to receive a gift card. “There is a number that people can call, and it’s 218-521-0585, and when they call that number, we need their name, phone number, address, and size of their family,” said LeBlanc. “The size of the family will determine how much they receive in gift cards. The bigger the family, the more money they’ll get.”
Ray Dusek has been on the committee for the past 16 years, and he says it is a lot more organized than it once was. “It is a lot more organized than it used to be. I must say that Greg and Marlene have done a tremendous job as the chair of the board,” said Dusek. “It is more organized than it was. It used to be the same for the most part, but it was never this big. More people are involved, the High School is involved, and we can accomplish more.”
The gift cards will be mailed out sometime after all the donations have been received. Roughly 205-220 families benefit from the project each year, which makes up approximately 10% of the population in Crookston.
