Holiday Giving in McCloud

Community Outreach Providing Winter Gear for McCloud Students

It actually starts in October and November with the McCloud Community Resource Center and the McCloud Community Recreation Center. They purchase hats, gloves, and boots to give to all the school children in McCloud. The boots are purchased at the McCloud Outdoors & Gear Exchange. There is also the Giving Tree at the Heart of the Earth store on Main Street where community members can pick names off the tree and what gifts to buy for that child. This year there are 39 names on the Giving Tree.

The churches in McCloud—the First Baptist, Calvary Christian Community Center, Community Presbyterian Church, and Saint Joseph Catholic Church—team up with the American Legion Auxiliary, the McCloud Garden Club, and the Recreation Council to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets. They add a week’s worth of groceries in these holiday-wrapped baskets that value about $200 each. The McCloud Fire Department volunteers pick up these baskets and deliver them throughout the community.

In addition, these McCloud organizations also make about 24 Senior Christmas Baskets which include goodies that seniors may not buy for themselves. Along with these, the firefighters also give out mini homemade breads in pumpkin, banana, cranberry and orange, and other delicious flavors that these devoted women make for this occasion.

There are about 24 women in these committees and each has a specific job. The heads of the committees are Sheri Burris with St. Joseph Church, Chris Dirskell with the Resource Center, Racheal Marley with the 1st Baptist Church, Sybil Stewart with the Presbyterian Church, Penny Rorke at Heart of the Earth where the Giving Tree is, and Anne Mero and Rosa Mero.

Anne Mero says that they have been doing this for about 25 to 30 years. “We now have this down to a science. We have spreadsheets showing the different committees each with specific jobs, and many wonderful donors including The McCloud Market, the Garden Club, Champion, the Ladies Golf Club, the McCloud Chamber of Commerce and others. It takes a lot of people to make this happen. There are a lot of grandparents raising their grandchildren now that need support. We finish up in January with a ‘Thank You’ luncheon for all the volunteers.”