Bountiful holiday for charities
Joe Oliver and Sebastian Lilienthal, aid administrators at the St. Vincent de Paul Society, were given a very specific job on Christmas Eve.
"We were told: As soon as all the food is gone and all the presents are gone, go home and have a good Christmas," said Oliver. When the employees and volunteers left the agency Wednesday, they had completed their task.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society assembled and distributed about 230 food baskets this Christmas - one for each of the families on the nonprofit agency's list, Oliver said.
About 100 sponsors adopted families in the St. Vincent Adopt-A-Family program. Not every family on the list was adopted.
Families on a waiting list that weren't adopted were able to share in a portion of the holiday generosity, though. The St. Vincent de Paul Society gathered undesignated donated gifts and created Santa's workshop, Oliver said. Parents who needed an extra gift or two for their kids could come and pick them up for free.
Good communication between the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Glory Hole and the Salvation Army maximized the efficiency of holiday food and gift distribution, said Maj. Larry Fankhauser of the Salvation Army.
"We share together some very basic information about those who have made requests for assistance to be sure that we're not all going to the same field, if you would, and to try to make sure that we're helping as many people as possible," Fankhauser said.
The Salvation Army was able to provide Christmas food baskets to all who requested them, Fankhauser said. Twenty families were adopted through the Salvation Army's family adoption program, which is similar to that of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The charity put last-minute food donations that weren't immediately needed either into storage for use later this winter or into the pantries of other nonprofit agencies, Fankhauser said.
"This year we had a couple of nice donations of some turkeys," he said. "We would call the other agencies and say, 'We're in pretty good shape now. Do you find yourself running short?' "
The Salvation Army most likely has enough food to meet people's needs through the end of March, Fankhauser said. At that point, the charity will hold another annual drive.
"By that time especially our food bank will be pretty well used and we will need to go to the public and request donations of canned goods and things to re-stock our pantry here," he said.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society won't hold another major fund-raiser until next fall, when it will collect donations of school supplies, Oliver said.
Many of the toys that went to local charities this season came from the Great Alaska Toy Drive, said Michelle Shaw, who organized the drive. Juneau residents donated about 1,000 toys at drop-off points around town, and the Alaska Army National Guard collected them and delivered them to local charities.
"We filled all of the requests that we had, so it turned out successful as usual," said Shaw.
The Glory Hole, which distributed presents to children and adults at its holiday party on Dec. 21, had left-over gifts, said Jetta Whittaker, executive director of the downtown homeless shelter.
She sent many of those toys to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and kept some socks, underwear and sweaters to give to Glory Hole patrons later in the winter.
The 100-or-so people who attended the Glory Hole party were grateful for the party and the presents, Whittaker said.
"We're just so happy that everyone's blessings were shared with us," she said. "It really makes the patrons feel a lot better about who they are when they know the community isn't shunning them."
• Christine Schmid can be reached at cschmid@juneauempire.com.