If there is one day that the spirit of camaraderie is in peak performance mode in any given year at Lake Michigan College, it is the day that the staff and students work like a well-oiled machine to assemble holiday food baskets for 100 local needy families and at-risk elderly members of the community in an outright labor of love.
You can help them immensely in their task tonight, Wednesday, December 7th, by stopping off for dinner or a snack at Buffalo Wild Wings in Southtown St. Joseph between 5pm and 8pm when a percentage of all dine-in and carry-out sales will be donated to the LMC Holiday Food Basket campaign. Swing by and enjoy your favorite wings while helping put wings under the LMC staff effort to soar once again.
This year marks the 33rd consecutive year that the LMC staff has put together this remarkable effort, and they work on and off all throughout the year to gather the cash and resources to make it happen with lots of small and fun fundraisers to accomplish the task.
Next Tuesday, December 13th, the whole team will gather together at 8:30am at the new Hanson Technology Center for a full-on assembly line to pack the Holiday Food Baskets. Volunteers are sought to help for either a short while or the entire effort. Many hands make light work. Coffee & rolls will be available to enjoy before the packing party begins. Once all of the baskets are packed, a team of drivers will begin making the deliveries around the community.
This year, the LMC crew has partnered with the Berrien RESA Birth to Three Programs (Early On and Parents As Teachers) helping families in need with infants and toddlers who have developmental risks and/or disabilities. Other recipients of the LMC Holiday Food Baskets have been identified in partnership with the Area Agency on Aging.
There are other ways you can help as well. A donation of $40 provides a food basket for one family, so you can sponsor a basket as a tax-deductible gift that will help many individuals in the community. Some entire departments at the college as well as individuals and families of staff and students donate and add a personalized tag or holiday card to the basket as a holiday greeting to the eventual recipients. Checks to "LMC Foundation" are acceptable as well as cash and credit card transactions by contacting Kathy Burnett at 927-3571, ext 6105.
Some folks are getting in on the fun by purchasing Holiday Raffle Tickets for a $350 gift card to the Four Winds Casino Resort plus a $100 Visa gift card usable at any Four Winds location as a dining, lodging, or retail shopping credit. The drawing will take place on December 13th and tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20 also available from Kathy Burnett at ext 6105.
Burnett and her colleagues work diligently year after year to provide a happy holiday for people in our community who might otherwise have little if anything to celebrate.
