With early deadlines to meet Monday through Friday, my fellow ES staffers and I relish the chance to sleep in on Saturday morning. This weekend, though, we were all up with the birds to do a little Delivering. Literally, this time, since we had signed up once again to pitch in as part of the Greene Rotary Club’s annual Christmas “basket” delivery.
For more than 50 years, the Greene community has joined forces in this effort to bring Christmas to those in need in a highly-coordinated effort spearheaded by the Greene Rotary.
Many communities have similar efforts, delivering food, clothing and gifts to local families in need. But I’ve never seen anything on the same scale as Greene’s. Everyone from the schools, local businesses, service organizations, scouts, churches and whole families get involved. Both collectively and individually, they adopt families, hold food and clothing drives, raise money and dedicate countless volunteer hours to make it happen. It is truly awe-inspiring.
It all comes together on delivery day, when the “baskets” are delivered. They’re not baskets, really, but large cardboard boxes (donated by Page Seed). Each are heavily laden with food items, blankets, clothing, toys, etc. And most are accompanied by bags filled with gaily wrapped gifts in all sizes and shapes.
My first chance to witness this effort first hand was last December, when my esteemed editor Jeff Genung and I pitched in. Not only were we completely blown away, but we were also incredibly touched by this manifestation of the very definition of community. We vowed to return this year. And we enlisted two of our colleagues – Brian Golden and Melissa deCordova – to help as well. Trust me, it wasn’t really a hard sell. They were eager to see it all first hand after hearing us rave about it.
So, on Saturday, we commandeered the company mini-van and headed to Greene. Though Jeff and I had given Melissa and Brian an idea of what to expect, neither were truly prepared for their first glimpse of the organized chaos which reigns at Berean Bible Church, the base of operations for the effort. We arrived promptly at 8 as instructed, but things were already well underway.
I’d given my two Rotary contacts, Paula Estabrook and Jim Saroka, a heads up that we were coming, and they greeted us cheerfully. While I filled out the small amount of paperwork necessary to get us registered, Jeff et al made a bee-line for the doughnuts and coffee. (Some things never change.)
Recognizing our limited knowledge of the Greene area, Paula was kind enough to give us a route close to the village. There were six families on our list, but given the volume of boxes and bags, we knew we’d need to take two trips even with the extra space in the van. After a quick consult with my friend Terri who knows the streets of Greene a little better than I, we started loading up.
Once the goodies had all been stowed, Melissa and Brian were eager to set out. But Jeff and I knew better. First, we had to pick up the turkey or ham, as well as the potatoes, apples and bread for each house. There was a bit of a bottleneck around the Chenango Carpet van, where Roger Connelly and a few other volunteers were dishing out the perishable items, but it wasn’t long before we were hitting the road with our van-load of Christmas.
I think I can speak for my coworkers when I say that, with each delivery we made, we could see and feel the importance of what we were doing.
When we returned to base to gather the items for the remainder of our route, we discovered other volunteers had already embarked with them. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed at first, but it didn’t last long. After all, it meant that even more people had showed up to lend a hand than the Rotary had anticipated. All told, 38 drivers volunteered their services. As a result, the delivery took less than an hour! Considering 124 families received baskets this year, that’s more than a little impressive.
That, my friends, is what community is all about.