FISH bring holiday cheer to 115 families
The 2010 FISH Christmas Basket Brigade is now another happy memory for the volunteers who worked lovingly (and many long hours) to provide a happy holiday for 115 families, to include 198 Pine Island- Matlacha children, each of whom received three gifts. As with all FISH programs, although we are the “lead agency”, the Brigade is a community effort and as always our organizations, churches, residents and friends were highly supportive.
The Food Pantry furnished Winn-Dixie gift cards for purchase of meat plus a bag of food for each family. The Matlacha Hookers, in addition to raising funds through their caroling activities, purchased tins of cookies and writing materials for the singles and couples on the list to supplement the books of stamps and peace lilies provided by the Brigade. Entertainer Kip Lawrence held his third annual “Christmas Toys for Girls and Boys” concert at the Matlacha Fish House and delivered a van load of new toys to our central location, as did the Red Hat Ladies of the KOA in St. James City, and the American Legion and Woody’s Waterside volunteered to serve as collection centers for toys. Their efforts helped immeasurably in keeping the Brigade costs at a sustainable level.
Although the Brigade account was woefully in need of nourishment in early November, funds began arriving almost almost daily following our article in the Pine Island Eagle requesting assistance. . Among the generous fund donors were the Alden Pines Country Club whose annual golf scramble sweetened the treasury by a larger-than-expected amount, the talented caroling Hookers who unashamedly but good-naturedly convinced pub and club patrons to contribute as much as they could afford, the Bobby Holloway Memorial Corporation, Elks Lodge, Ladies of the Elks, Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Women’s Guild, First Baptist Church of Pine Island, American Legion Auxiliary, the Lee County Sheriff’s station on Pine Island, and a host of residents and their friends or relatives, some of whom live out of state.
The Brigade once again gives its heartfelt thanks to Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Church which has allowed us to use their Parish Life Center as an “operations center” for gift-wrapping and distribution year after year. It is perhaps the only building on the island that is large enough to accommodate the needs of such a large project. This year’s wrapping party included approximately 50 individuals who represented a cross section of island residents from all walks of life. It’s always a fun event and even provides the opportunity for wrappers to “let out their inner child” and play with some of the toys prior to wrapping them. We invite Eagle readers to visit our website, pineislandfish.org, to view photos of the wrapping party and learn about other FISH services.
So now we’ve welcomed the year 2011, and our wish is that it will be a better year economically for so many of our friends and neighbors who have been sorely affected by financial hardships. Thanks to all in our community who helped make Christmas brighter for those in need.