Veterans Receive Thanksgiving Donations
Kids Club members (front to back) Lyla Firment, Matty Panchik, Bella Firment and Allie Panchik deliver food donations to Mechling-Shakley Supervisor Brian Johns with Kittanning Elks Exalted Ruler Dan Gallagher. (submitted photo)
by Jonathan Weaver
Veterans at the Mechling-Shakley Veterans Center in Cowansville will have a Thanksgiving feast this Thursday… for free, courtesy of the Kittanning Elks Kids’ Club.
Kids Club Co-Chair Ashleah Firment helped kids transport nearly a dozen boxes of food to the veterans center Monday evening and explained the service project.
“We put the boxes out at the beginning of October. We put it in the newsletter, posted it in the grill room and in the dining room for members when they come in for dinner, for an event (or) just stopping in to socialize to drop something off on their way in,” Firment said. “It started with two boxes – which I wasn’t sure if we were going to fill them all the way up initially – and it turned into a whole hallway full.”
The boxes did not include a handful of turkeys and other perishable items (including bacon, sausage, butter, eggs and milk) in the walk-in cooler bought through monetary donations from lodge events.
Firment hoped veterans were as surprised with the result as she was.
Items came from members and community residents – as well as Firment’s daughters, six-year-old Bella and four-year-old Lyla by way of Firment’s pantry.
“We try to talk about things the Elks stands for – giving back, charity, fidelity – and we always do a community service project,” Firment said. “Last year, we donated items to the (Armstrong County) Health Center – we purchased 100 gifts and delivered them room-to-room.”
“It’s not super-exciting for them, but it is educational and as members, it teaches our kids the Elks is about socializing with your friends, but also something bigger too.”
Due to the response, Firment said the service project may continue next year.
The Kids Club meets September through May and has grown during the past four years. Exalted Ruler Dan Gallagher also attends events frequently.
Local News | jweaver November 24, 2015
No Comments
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
