SCOTT CITY FIREFIGHTERS CATER TO NEEDY

SCOTT CITY -- The gymnasium of the St. Joseph Elementary School in Scott City resembled a scene from a grocery store having a "Going Out of Business" sale Wednesday afternoon.

Empty boxes and cartons were scattered across the floor, among giant stacks of canned goods, pallets of flour and crates of juice.

But instead of having a clearance sale, volunteer firefighters and other city employees were loading box after box with canned and perishable goods for needy families in Scott City.

Area churches and civic organizations submitted the names of 51 families to the Scott City Fire Department, who most needed assistance this holiday season.

"Many of the people are coming here to pick their boxes up," said Scott City Fire Chief Les Crump. "We will deliver the boxes of food to the elderly and shut-ins, who cannot come get it themselves."

The food came from a number of different places, but the bulk of the canned goods came from an inter-departmental "competition" at Blair Industries, located in Scott City's Industrial Park area.

The different departments within the company competed with one another to see who could bring in the most canned food, resulting in more than 13,000 pounds of canned goods for the fire department to distribute.

Other donations -- of food and money -- came from area businesses, grocery stores, civic organizations, scout troops and from individuals within the community.

In the 18 years that the Scott City Fire Department has been making care packages for residents who need them most, a lot has changed, Crump said.

"We started out just taking calls at the station from people who said they needed a gift basket for Christmas," he said. "This year, we let the civic organizations and churches pick out the people they felt needed the most help and submit the names to us.

"We called or went around and notified people to come and get their packages (Wednesday)."

Last year, firefighters prepared the care packages for 92 families. Crump said this year the number is lower, but each family is receiving more items in their boxes.

Firefighters, emergency medical personnel and other city workers loaded the boxes down with every kind of canned vegetable imaginable -- from sweet corn, to beans, to okra -- juice, brownie mix, flour, crackers, shortening, salt, bleach and laundry detergent.

"Every year we end up with a whole lot of cans of sweet peas, corn and green beans -- more than anything else," said Crump. "I guess that's what people think is best to donate."

The fire department used the monetary donations to purchase milk, eggs and a turkey for each of the 51 families.

Tuesday night, members of the fire department spent several hours hauling the food to the gymnasium and sorting it into piles.

"We start this whole project about December 1," said Crump. "We spend a couple nights a week getting things together and making phone calls, to make sure that we're going to have enough."

As people wandered into the gymnasium to pick up their boxes, firefighters and public works employees used a dolly to haul the boxes out to the recipients' vehicles.

Crump said the department enjoys making up the gift boxes for area families each year.

"The fire department is a service organization and this project is a service to the community," said Crump. "There is a need there and someone has to fill it.

"Besides, none of these guys ever complain about working on the baskets," he added.