As demand soars, Christmas Cheer makes plea for help

The Great Recession continues to rear its head here at home, with demands on social services soaring and a genuine fear that South Shore’s food bank won’t be able to provide Christmas dinner for a record number of families in need.
For 30 years, the Christmas Cheer food bank has helped families celebrate Christmas with a traditional dinner of turkey and all the trimmings. However, with 800 families expected to be on the list of those to receive a dinner, the charity has only 75 donated turkeys and five hams to give and organizers say they are beyond being nervous.
“Last year we ran out of food, but were able to pick and pull and made it come together. This season, though, we’ve had less coming in, less commitments, less cash, less turkeys, less in terms of everything. We really don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Virginia Buffington, executive director of Christmas Cheer.

Food needs soar as recession continues
Demand is up around 25 percent this year over last year, a sure and telling sign that economic troubles are among the worst ever for South Lake Tahoe, with its high double-digit unemployment rate, a lackluster summer and fall visitor turnout, and businesses shutting their doors.
Adding to the problem, as of the first week of December, ski resorts, which put people to work, remained closed or at limited hiring capacity due to the lack of any significant snowfall.
Families who depend on seasonal ski resort jobs and those jobs on the periphery to put food on the table are telling volunteers they are feeling squeezed. And so is Christmas Cheer.
Ten years ago, as South Shore was celebrating a real estate boom, enough was going on in town so when the local casinos were laying off people, pocketbooks remained open and donations to Christmas Cheer and Bread and Broth continued to pour in, said longtime food bank volunteer Wilma Thomas. But when the economy began to tank in 2008 with the collapse of real estate, people who would normally have been able to help, began feeling pinched. In fact many who were once contributors to Christmas Cheer have now turned to it for help.
“Each year it has gotten worse. Those who would give have left or are in need of help themselves,” Thomas said.

Food distribution centers feeling pinched
Besides the lack of food and money donations, another problem facing the local food bank is that the food distribution centers, which provide programs like Christmas Cheer the shelf goods such as potatoes, rice, fruits and vegetables, have also experienced crushing demand and their shelves are bare to limited.
Christmas Cheer gets the majority of its food from Food Bank of Northern Nevada in Reno. Early this month, Buffington got the itemized list of what the food bank has in stock. The choices were grim: Soup mix, coffee and condiments.
“You can’t feed families on coffee and ketchup,” she said.

Empty Toys for Tots barrels
When the situation seems as if it couldn’t get worse, organizations that conduct traditional drives, such as Toys for Tots, also report having nothing to give. Donations have been worse than scarce, they’ve been virtually non-existent, said Monique McIntyre, organizer of the local Toys for Tots program through Christmas Cheer.
“We’ve got 900 kids signed up and our barrels are empty,” she said. “The need in our community couldn’t be more and yet the giving has dropped to next to nothing,” she said. “It is really telling how we’re all affected by the economy.”

Toys for Tots is in need of clothing and toys for all ages from babies to teenagers. Cash donations are appreciated.

"I've been putting the barrels out since '83 and I've never seen them so empty," said Christmas Cheer Toy Drive volunteer Dona Baxter.

Checks can also be made payable to Christmas Cheer. Write “Toys” on the memo line. Donation barrels can be found at numerous locations throughout the community. Call McIntyre at (530) 542-5526 for more information.  One can also share the joy of the holiday season by donating cash or food directly. Contact Christmas Cheer at (530) 542-4934. Raley’s and Safeway are both are conducting food drives. Checkers have information about making a donation.

On Thursday, Dec. 15, the Coyote Grill in the Round Hill Plaza will hold its Chili Night to benefit Christmas Cheer Toy Drive. The fundraiser runs from 5 to 10 p.m. and costs $1 for a bowl of chili. Twenty percent of the money raised will go to the toy drive.

Here is a list of Toys for Tots drop off points:
— The Three South Lake Tahoe Fire Stations
— The Main tahoe Douglas Fire Station
— The Main lake Valley Fire Station
— LTVA Visitors Centers in California and Nevada, the Keys Cafe, the
Design Shoppe.
— El Dorado County Child Support, Coyote Grill, Bank of the West
— The Marcia Sarosik Dance Studio, Lake Tahoe Fellowship Church,
Coldwell Banker McKinney & Associates, Dr. Jane's Dental Office.
— Kahle Community Center, Heavenly Mountain Resort, The American
Legion, the Moose Lodge, Grocery Outlet, Borges Chiropractic, Toy
Maniacs, Tahoe Fracture Clinic, South Tahoe Recreation Center, Rite
Aide, Tahoe Wellness Collective, Both Raleys stores, both Safeways
stores, Lira's market, Sierra Athletic Club, Dr. Worth's Chiropractic
Office, Coldwell Banker Select realty at Round Hill.