Tri-County Good Samaritan Center holds annual gift-giveaway day

Tri-County Good Samaritan Center holds annual gift-giveaway day

By Shiloh Appel
It was a full day of packing, wrapping, preparing, and delivering at the Tri-County Good Samaritan Center on Thursday, December 20th from 7:30 a.m. to 5p.m.

Thursday was the  much anticipated annual gift and meal bag give-away day. After preparing all morning, volunteers Rita Lunney, Sharon Richmond, Nancy Johnson, Ryan Regnier, Steve Simons, Penny Ihnen and Sherry Wurtz began to give out gift  and meal bags at 1 p.m. to the long line of people beginning to form outside.
"Last year we helped 85 families with a Christmas meal and 200 children [with Christmas gifts] from our tri - county area," said Wurtz."Each child is to get at least three gifts, but  because of the generosity of the community, each child usually gets about five."
The gifts that are given away on the Tri-County Good Samaritan's gift-giveaway day are all purchased by community members through the Angel Tree and other means. Parents or guardians fill out application forms for gifts for their children, and these are written on Angel Tree tags and delivered to churches and other contributors to the community, such as the Redfield Carnegie Library. Gifts are delivered to the Good Samaritan Center unwrapped. Volunteers then get together to wrap all of them.
The Tri-County Good Samaritan Center in Redfield has held this annual gift-giveaway day for approximately 20 years, and they don't plan on stopping any time soon.
It was a hectic day with excitement in the air December 20th as volunteers buzzed back and forth, matching presents to their correct families and helping load up cars.
"We always say to dress warm and don't bring your kids, because it is a long time standing in line," said Wurtz. "We let one person in at a time."
Wurtz said that the Good Samaritan will always accept monetary gifts or food items to continue this ministry to the needs of the community.