Record number of volunteers help with KDSS Christmas Knights food, toy drive

St. Anthony's Parish Hall, Kincardine, had more than 40 volunteers ready to take on the incredible amount of donations brought in by the Kincardine District Secondary School Christmas Knights during their 20th annual food and toy drive, Saturday morning.

Heather Finnie, co-ordinator of the Christmas Hamper program, said it's always encouraging to see the many students and volunteers participating, and the great mountain of food and toys. And this year, for the first time, there was a record number of volunteers on the receiving end to help sort and box the non-perishable food, new toys and knitted items, as well as warm hats, mitts and gloves.

Among those volunteers, were Debbie and Brian Dennis who were attending a wedding reception in Hamilton the night before. When they told the groom that they had to leave in order to get home and help with the Christmas Knights event, he gave them $20 to put toward it.

"We have 179 hampers to fill this year," said Finnie. "That's about the same as last year, and half of those are repeats from 2015." Last year, volunteers filled 184 hampers.

The Christmas Knights co-ordinators, Victoria Weber, Deanna Fitzgerald and Nicki Tibben, said they had about 90 students, plus volunteer drivers, travelling 23 routes, from Heritage Heights in the south to Huron Ridge in the north, collecting items.

The Christmas hamper program is in its 30th year. Volunteers will now spend Monday to Wednesday packing the hampers, finalizing them Thursday, and then they will be distributed Friday.