Christmas 'good time' to reach out to those in need

ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon County Saint Nicholas Project met Wednesday to set in motion its next month of activities to help the elderly and those in need have a brighter Christmas.

Committee members agreed that with the state of the economy in the county, there is a greater need to help struggling families and the elderly. For many, that need will be met with food vouchers.

“Christmas is a good time to reach out to those families,” Saint Nicholas co-chair Kathie Bauer said. The food voucher program is in need of additional funds to ensure families will have food for Christmas, Bauer explained.

The committee asks the public to help support the voucher project with donations to St. Nicholas Project, P.O. Box 72, Ontonagon, MI, 49953.

With expectations that the public will support the program, the committee took a “leap of faith” and agreed to expend the same amount of money as last year.

Toy Tree committee members said the deadline to select a tag from the trees located throughout the county and return a gift for a child to the tree is Dec. 1. “If someone who took a tag off a tree and then for some reason or other cannot buy a gift, he or she is asked to return the tag to the tree, or else that child will not have a gift,” Verna Johnson said.

The theme of this year's project is, “Sharing from the Heart.”

“The people of Ontonagon County are so generous and really do share what they have with others,” Bauer said.