San Andreas, CA… On Saturday December 19th nearly 40 volunteers loaded up vehicles with food and delivered to 200 needy Calaveras residents/homes on the 35th anniversary of the Calaveras Rotary Christmas Food Basket Project.

In 1985 Jay & Clayre Quick of the Angels Murphys Rotary Club came up with the idea of partnering with the Food Bank of Calaveras County to purchase and deliver Christmas Dinners as well as an additional week’s worth of food for those less fortunate in Calaveras County. They also teamed up with the Arnold Rotary Club, the only other club in the county at that time, to help with the packing, loading and delivering of those baskets a week before Christmas. That project has been taking place every Christmas Holiday for the past 35 years thanks to the support of the residents of Calaveras County. Since that time there have been three other clubs chartered in Calaveras County, The Angels Centennial Rotary Club which has
since merged with the Angels Murphys Club, The West Calaveras Rotary Club and most recently, the San Andreas Rotary Club, all of whom participate as well.

“Baskets” is the term used to describe these deliveries but a bit misleading, the amount of food delivered is so much more than a basket. This year’s delivery per family included a Frozen Turkey, bags of assorted Fruits, Vegetables, Canned Goods, etc. as well as a $100 Gift Card for Save Mart Supermarkets donated by Save Mart (Grant Monies).

In 2008 Barbara Larkin of the Angels Murphys Rotary Club took over as Chair from Jay & Clayre Quick and ran it for 12 years. Last year Barbara along with Sam Matyas and Jerry Lucas, also of the Angels Murphys Club worked with Sherri Reusche of the San Andreas Rotary Club to ensure a smooth transition as the San Andreas Club has this year taken over the job of administrating this amazing project. We had more recipients this year as opposed to most years in the past for obvious reasons and we are happy to report that it went off without a hitch, thank you to Sherri Reusche, Tina Mather and her staff at the Food Bank as well as all of the community volunteers that participated.

The gratification in making these deliveries is simply impossible to explain. The recipients are so grateful that someone actually cares, some respond with thank you after thank you, others, too choked up to speak simply put their face in their hands and wept… Some of these people didn’t even know before we arrived if they would have anything to eat on Christmas Day let alone the days before and after. Volunteering for this is a life changing experience and one that everybody should have the opportunity of experiencing for themselves.

In closing we would like to add that all of you that have supported any of the Rotary Fundraisers throughout the year can be proud to know that you were as well part of those Christmas Baskets that helped so many this year and we thank you. If you would like to make a donation for next year’s project you are welcome to contact San Andreas Rotary through our website or Facebook page to make a tax deductible donation that will be earmarked solely for the Christmas Basket Food Project. Please support Non Profit Fundraisers, Rotary or not, as best you can, there are so many needs in our community that still are not being met.

Thank You!