Horn of plenty for valley’s needy
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Williams
Market butcher Rick Stoney, left, and owner Chris Williams. The market donated 72 turkeys
for Thanksgiving charity baskets. (Express photo by Ron Soble)
Nearly 140 families will have a little more reason to give thanks this
week when they receive gift baskets complete with turkeys, fruit, vegetables and dry
goods—everything needed to cook Thanksgiving dinner, including the roasting pan.
Marilyn Simmons, a long-time supporter and organizer for the Wood River
Jaycees, is masterminding the operation this year. She said she believes there are a large
number of families in the valley who can’t afford Thanksgiving dinner.
"It’s just the fact that somebody gets to eat," she said
of the basket donations. "That’s the important thing."
About half the turkeys are provided at cost by Williams Market in
Ketchum.
The market’s owner, Chris Williams, said he got involved with the
basket donations through the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club, of which he has been a member
for about five years.
He makes the contributions so "everybody will have a turkey"
on Thanksgiving.
Butcher Rick Stoney said Friday that each California-grown, 12-pound
turkey "will easily feed a family of 12, with no leftovers."
He recommended the birds be cooked breast-down, because that’s
where all the juices go. "Besides, you throw the back away anyway," he said.
Simmons and volunteers from the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary and the
Jaycees began assembling the baskets yesterday at the parish hall of the St. Charles
Borromeo Church in Hailey.
Simmons said she has been working for the last three weeks with The
Advocates, Women’s Resource Center, Blaine County Services, the Blaine County School
District, HeadStart preschool, Silver Creek Alternative School and the Blaine County
Senior Center to decide who the recipients will be.
Recipients were notified by mail with certificates that can be
exchanged for the baskets. Distribution begins today.
The identities of the recipients have been kept confidential.
Simmons, is taking the project over from Community Holiday Baskets, a
local group that traditionally gives baskets away at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Simmons
said the project has been a grueling but satisfying experience.
Only a few days before the baskets were to be assembled and
distributed, she was still not sure where she would get the other half of the 140 turkeys.
To help make up the deficit, she asked for donations of "price
cutters" certificates from Paul’s Market, which she planned to exchange for
turkeys at the market.
Otherwise, she said, "I’ll get out on the street to collect [the certificates]
if I have to."
Also, on Thursday, the Jaycees will sponsor a free sit-down turkey
dinner for the entire community at the St. Charles Parish Hall.
The doors will be open from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. with children’s games
and football to follow.
For anyone who can’t leave home, volunteers will hand-deliver the
hot meals.
For more information on the dinner, call Simmons at 788-4200.
