The State College Elks Club, working with the Toys for Tots program and the State College Food Bank, conducted its annual Christmas charity event Dec. 19 at the Mountain View Country Club near Boalsburg.
On Dec. 18, a group of Elks members and other community volunteers, ranging in age from 12-year-old Vivian Scott to senior citizens, helped to organize the many bags of toys and racks of clothing items that were collected.
The food, clothes, and toys were to be handed out to needy families in the area the following day. Each family also received enough food to make a complete turkey dinner.
A new item in this year’s distribution was a “necessities basket” filled with cleaning and hygiene products such as paper towels, toilet paper, bleach, laundry detergent, soap and toothbrushes.
“We’ve never had this, and people are just loving the fact that we’re giving this out,” event organizer Brenda Kephart said. “If this works, it will be our additional thing every year.”
She was grateful to local stores who donated many of the cleaning supplies, and individuals who donated money to purchase the other items.
Kephart also noted that the Elks Club national organization gave the State College chapter a $2,000 grant to help pay for the baskets.
“We were surprised — we got it within two days,” she said. “I think they really liked the idea of what we’re doing with it.”
Food distribution organizer W. F. Reiber said the baskets contained items that food banks are not legally allowed to give out because the items are not food. Reiber was grateful that the State College Food Bank paid the nearly $4,700 bill for turkeys this year — a bill the Elks had paid in the past. He also noted the growth of the Elks’ charity program and that of the needs in the State College area.
“I’ve done this thing for 40 years,” he said. “When we started we had 35 families signed up. Now it’s around 260.”
Reiber said that members of the Boalsburg Fire Company and the Alpha Fire Company in State College delivered the toys collected from the Toys for Tots program to the country club. The morning of the event, the toys were arranged on tables by children’s age groups and gender for recipients to choose from.
Kephart said much of the clothing to be distributed was purchased from local stores, who gave the Elks substantial discounts.
