BEMIDJI 鈥� Even a winter storm didn't stop the United Way Holiday Gifts for Kids program's annual effort to ensure that all Bemidji area children in need receive a gift this holiday season.
Enough presents for 730 children ages 0-16 were brought to the Sanford Center bright and early on Wednesday morning and unloaded in the midst of heavy snowfall, thanks to volunteers from Bemidji Ambulance Service, Kraus-Anderson Construction and the Bemidji State women's basketball team.
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This year, 144 gifts were collected in Santa's sleigh at the Tourist Information Center in addition to all the presents left at collection sites around town, including First National Bank locations, L&M Fleet, Menards, Walgreens and MJB Home Center.
According to Gretchen Thompson from the United Way, the Ambulance Service has been a very helpful part of the program for a few years.
"They just love to be part of it," Thompson said. "They will actually go and pick up the gifts from the collection places and then they store some of the gifts for us, too (at the Ambulance Services building)."
She added that though there are enough gifts for 730 children, even more were on hand to allow for parents to have lots of choices this year.
"We collect even more presents than we need because we want to make sure the parents have options to choose from for their children," Thompson explained.
She also added that anyone was able to apply to participate in the program, regardless of income status. Thompson thought there were about 100 more children participating in the program this year compared to 2021.
"Any parent or guardian who may need help can apply, they just have to fill out a registration form ahead of time," Thompson said. "Our only requirement is they need to live in the Bemidji 歪歪漫画 District. It's just for anyone who needs a little extra help."
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After the basketball team had unloaded all the boxes and bags of gifts and carried them into the Sanford Center, volunteers from Kraus-Anderson Construction sorted and organized everything on tables according to various age categories.
On Thursday, volunteers from First National Bank came to help with the distribution of the gifts.
"Last year we had to do a drive-thru set up, so parents couldn't pick out their gifts," Thompson explained. "So we're really excited this year that parents actually get to do their own shopping, then they can take the gifts home and wrap them to give their kids."
She said that monetary donations are also helpful because it allows the United Way to buy extra presents for age groups that oftentimes are overlooked, such as the teenage years. They also buy a lot of board games since each family receives a board game in addition to their gifts when they come to shop.
"Just a big thank you to the community for all the donations and gifts," Thompson left off, "it makes such a difference."
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