by June Portnoy
If you’re like so many people living in Bucks County, you’ve been blessed with a nice home, plenty of food, warm clothes for the cold winter months ahead, along with extra spending money to lavish your family members and friends during the holiday season. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people living in your own community who have to struggle to find their next meal and have no extra cash to celebrate the holidays this year.
For this reason Bucks County Housing Group (BCHG) is currently holding its Annual Winter Holiday Appeal. The immediate goal of the program is to collect donations from area residents, organizations and businesses in order to provide every family at its Doylestown, Penndel and Milford Square Food Pantries a Thanksgiving Basket. These baskets will consist of all the fixings of a Thanksgiving dinner such as stuffing mix, boxed mashed potatoes, canned vegetables, paper goods and a roaster pan, if possible, to cook a turkey.
In addition, it will include a gift card of about $25 to a local grocery store where they can purchase a turkey along with perishable goods. These pantries have very limited freezer space to store donations of frozen turkeys, which is why they are collecting grocery store gift cards instead.
“These baskets are for the people who have come to rely on the food from our pantries to meet their food needs,” says Melissa Mantz, BCHG Development Officer. “We try to give these families extra support during the holidays to help them stretch tight budgets.”
