Every year they help over 300 households at Christmas time by providing what's needed for a traditional Christmas meal - ham or turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and all of the fixings.
Candace Melloy, Executive Director of Family Service Society, told West Kentucky Star they also provide other items in the "Santa for Seniors" program.
Melloy said, "We also do personal hygiene items and cleaning supplies. And then we like to give them nice little gifts like slippers, hats, gloves, scarves, or maybe a mug with hot chocolate, crossword puzzles, something like that, and a lot of the seniors, whenever we give that to them, they tell us that if it wasn't for this program they wouldn't receive any Christmas presents."
If anyone would like to help there are a few options:
+ "Adopt a Senior," for $65, which covers everything one person would receive
+ Sponsorships ranging from $250 to $3,000 to help provide one food item in the meal (see details at their website at the link below)
+ Collecting a specific item that will be given away. Melloy said businesses, organizations or small groups can choose an item (like mashed potatoes, scarves, slippers, etc.) and make sure Family Service Society has enough of it for the program.
Melloy encourages those who want to help collect items to get busy in the next couple of weeks.
"We would need it all by the first week of December, and after that we have to figure out exactly where we're at, what we still need, and then we have to go purchase everything," she said.
Monetary donations will be accepted up until the week before Christmas.
Melloy said in over 90 years serving the community, they've been providing Christmas assistance to seniors during the holiday season since the 1950s, and the need keeps growing.
For more information on helping with the food pantry or the "Santa for a Senior" program, call Family Service Society at 270-443-4838.
On the Net:
Family Service Society website
