The Martensville Fire Department has completed another year of supporting the community through their annual Christmas Hamper program. This program has been organized through the MFD for the past 22 years, helping families in need throughout the holiday season. Members of the 574 “Dakota” Air Cadet Squadron, Girl Guides
and students from Martensville High School gathered at the Fire Hall Tuesday, December 19th to help sort the food to ensure none of the items were expired before organizing into individual hampers.
Donations were collected from local businesses, organizations, schools and members of the community. Hampers consist of a wide variety of non-perishable food items, household items, gift cards, toys and turkey’s purchased with money donated to the MFD Christmas Hamper program. “It has been an all-around community event,” Firefighter James Taylor said. As nominations come in for families to receive the hampers, information is collected on how many family members there are, children’s ages and genders and any other information that can help ensure each family receives the perfect hamper. All information is kept confidential. “All of the items get separated into sections, then everything gets divided equally amongst however many families we have. It is quite the sight to see once all of the donations have been collected and organized,” Taylor stated.
This year, a total of 22 families will be presented with the Christmas Hampers on the Wednesday night delivery, which is up from last year’s 18 families. “We usually have a few last minute nominations come in and we don’t turn anyone away,” added Taylor.
