Rotary Club provides Christmas joy for locals in need

The Bigfork Rotary Club wants to ensure that no child falls through the cracks this Christmas. For the seventh year running, club members have been making holiday dreams come true for local highschoolers through the group’s Christmas Wish Project. High school aged students are often too old to qualify for other charitable programs and the Rotary also looks to serve those who aren’t already connected to other local charitable groups, such as the food bank or Salvation Army.

With help from Bigfork Schools, the club identifies students in need and provides them a Christmas wish list to fill out. The students can note their interests, things they want and need along with shoe and clothing sizes.

“We pick kids that are not part of these other programs that would not be getting a Christmas or much of a Christmas,” said Bigfork Rotary member Heather Howlett.

The Rotary seves anywhere from 11 up to 18 students each year and works hard to provide useful and personalized gifts to the recipients.

“We had one kid who wanted a muffler for his car so we worked out a deal with the auto shop at the school,” Howlett recalled. “They did all the work on this car for us and didn’t charge us.”

Threads, a clothing resource for Bigfork area students operated by the Bigfork Ladies Service Club, contributes Christmas stockings, too. After the Rotary purchases and packages the wish list gifs, they turn the bags over to the school district to pass out discreetly.

“I think the biggest thing is how I feel like our club really comes together for this,” Howlett said. “This is a pass the hat kind of project — The funds don't come out of our fundraising efforts so it’s very personal to us.”

In step with the Christmas Wish Project, the Rotary also provides baskets of food for local families during the holiday season. Bigfork Schools assists as well by identifying families who could use a little something extra and aren’t involved with other community resources. The boxes are filled with a turkey or ham dinner, plus all the fixings, along with grocery staples like flour, butter, eggs and more. Each basket is valued at $250-300, Howlett said, and the Rotary provides these for approximately 15 families each year. Local grocer Harvest Foods helps make the project possible by providing food at cost -- meaning the store acts as a pass-through for the items and doesn’t make a profit.

To get involved with future Bigfork Rotary holiday projects, contact the club by visiting www.bigforkrotaryclub.org.