CABOT — Needy families in the Cabot School District will have Christmas dinner — and then some — again this year, thanks to the Cabot Christmas Alliance.
“We’ve served between 800 and 850 families for the last couple of years,” said Cheryl Moore, secretary-treasurer of the 10-member alliance board. “We’re packing 900 boxes this year. We’ve never run out of food before, and we’re praying we don’t this year.
“The only requirement we have is that you must live in the Cabot School District. You don’t need to have children in school.”
Food is donated by churches, clubs, businesses and individuals, and donated money is used to fill the gaps in the food donations. From 200 to 250 volunteers usually spend two busy Saturdays in December: one to sort and pack, and one to distribute food. Moore said that one year she counted the steps she took, and the count came to 15,000-plus steps each Saturday.
This year, the packing will be done this Sunday because of a conflict with the schedule of the Cabot National Guard Armory, where the work is done.
“We may be down a little [on Sunday] because there’s a lot going on in Cabot that day,” Moore said.
Volunteers include Cabot High School students who are fulfilling their school-required volunteer hours. Some students, upon graduation, continue to help the organization.
Food boxes, which are crammed with enough food to last several days, include a ham for Christmas dinner; several vegetables; macaroni and cheese, supplied this year by Ward’s Grace Community Church; cranberry sauce and canned pineapple, supplied this year by Cabot First Baptist Church; gelatin; and cake mix and frosting. Among the vegetables this year will be fresh sweet potatoes, courtesy of the Arkansas Rice Depot, which had an overabundance of the vegetable.
“In some form or fashion, there has been a food box distribution since the ’60s,” Moore said.
In the early years, food was brought to Cabot’s First Baptist Church to be sorted and packed. Participating churches would pick up and deliver boxes to families whose names they had. Later, distribution was done by the Cabot Ministerial Alliance for many years, and when that organization disbanded, a group of volunteers continued the project. The Cabot Christmas Alliance was formally established in 2006.
The project eventually outgrew the alliance’s ability to deliver food to homes. For the past nine years, a drive-through distribution line has been in force at three locations: the Cabot National Guard Armory, Austin City Hall and the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church of Ward. This year, distribution will begin at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 19.
The distribution process was borrowed from a process used in the aftermath of Katrina 10 years ago by volunteers that included Moore’s parents, Jimmy and Helen Jones.
“The recipients never get out of their vehicles,” Moore said.
On distribution day in recent years, Christmas for Kids, a nonprofit formed in 1976, has provided toys for the children, members of Gideons International have witnessed to those in line and given out Bibles, and Slip Disc Ministries International has provided children with flying discs that have “The ABCs of Salvation” on the concave side. The ministry calls the disc “flying gospels,” according to the website slipdiscministries.com. Moore said there have been one or two professions of faith each year as a result of the witnessing.
The board usually meets in September to plan for the coming Christmas. The actual work begins in November, when families who have applied for food are sent a coded letter that
signifies the number of family members. A number on each letter is used to pack the food boxes and sort the toys to fit the size of each family. For example, families of up to three members receive one can of corn, families with four to six members receive two, and larger families receive three cans.
To receive their food box, recipients hand the coded letter to a volunteer, who sees that the proper box is put in each vehicle, which then moves on to the toy area, where the process is repeated.
The alliance also gets “walk-ins,” who must have proof of identification and proof that they live in the Cabot School District.
For more information on the project, contact the Cabot Christmas Alliance at (501) 628-2706 or cabotchristmasalliance@gmail.com.