Holmes Christmas Club packages 1200 fruit baskets

A joyfully busy atmosphere filled Chappy’s On Main in Clarion the morning of December 10 as volunteers with the Holmes Christmas Club assembled fruit baskets for their annual holiday gift-giving. After the Club’s Christmas auction on November 23, money raised from the event went toward materials for the baskets.

Beth Menges, one of the organizers of the event, said the Holmes Christmas Club has been operating since 1943. In the early days, they bought groceries for needy families. This year, they packaged around 1,200 fruit baskets for nursing home residents, elderly individuals, and for the 12 families in the backpack program.

The middle school leadership group Peer Helpers assisted with the delivery of the baskets later that day. Though the baskets are delivered to nursing homes in different towns, deliveries happen quickly. “We try to get it all done in one day,” said Shelley Pohlman, a Holmes Christmas Club member.

For the full story, see the December 17 edition of the Monitor.