Sheriff's Relief helps county needy

Volunteers took several hours out of their day Saturday to deliver Christmas presents and food to families throughout Sanders County as part of the annual Sheriff's Relief Fund.

Just over 50 men, women and children showed up at the Thompson Falls Community Center to put the food bags together and get their assignments to deliver the goods, which ranged from the Idaho/Montana border, west of Heron, to Hot Springs and almost to the Lake County border east of Dixon, according to Donna Neal, who coordinates the program each year. The volunteers formed an assembly line and everything was ready to go and loaded in their cars and trucks within an hour.

The volunteers delivered food to 188 families, nearly the same as last year, and presents to 440 children from about 1-month-old to 18, said Neal, the administrator at the Sheriff's Office in Thompson Falls.

Neal said they raised about $6,000 for this year's Sheriff's Relief. They received $1,600 from the Sanders County Christmas Bazaar, run by Ginny Dyer, and which took place in early December. The First Security Bank donated $1,000 and KMSO 102.5 FM radio station donated 50 presents for the children.

Nearly all of the other children's gifts came as the result of the Tree of Hearts, part of the Sheriff's Relief program. The wooden four-foot tall Christmas trees were positioned in 10 places throughout the county. Each tree had hooks on it with children's gender and age on it. Neal said they had to purchase presents for some of the older kids because they lacked toys in boys ages 12 to 17 and girls 9, 10, 12, 15, and 16. As in years past, they have some gifts left over and they will be used for Christmas 2008.

Many of Saturday's volunteers have helped deliver presents and food for several years. Doug and Mindy Ferrell of Trout Creek have done it for 17 years.

Sheriff Gene Arnold, Sanders County Deputy Shawna Chenoweth and Reserve Deputy Dave Hedley helped with the delivery, along with Michael Vinion, a soldier on leave from Georgia, and his wife, Dianne, who were visiting his parents in Thompson Falls.

Neal, along with girls from Spring Creek Lodge and boys from the Turning D Ranch helped wrap presents Friday.

The Sheriff's Relief Fund has been going on for about 24 years. The food baskets contained a turkey and a variety of food that traditionally goes with a Christmas dinner, such as potatoes, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, onions, and celery. Cookies were also included this year.

Arnold said the Sheriff's Relief program is important to the community. He said they delivered about two tons of food, which they picked up at Harvest Foods in Thompson Falls early Saturday morning. Arnold said they spent about $4,000 on food alone.

"There may be folks out there who wouldn't get anything without this," said Arnold.

"It's the only time of year we out reach to the community," said Neal, who added that this year's fund-raiser was another success.