Thanksgiving baskets to feed families

• Preparing to package

Andy Fuenffinger of Cottage Grove stacks bean cans for Kaity Forsythe, 17, to stage for Thanksgiving boxes prepared by the St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club on Saturday. Club members and volunteers, who got help from Cottage Grove Lions Club members, packed 155 Thanksgiving meal baskets for needy south Washington County residents. The meals were delivered Saturday.
• Packaging baskets

Volunteers worked in an assembly line to efficiently fill 155 Thanksgiving baskets to be delivered to local families by the St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club. Scott Wente photo.
• Quick work

It took not much longer than 10 minutes for Lions Club members and volunteers to fill 155 Thanksgiving boxes Saturday at the St. Paul Park fire hall. Scott Wente photo.
• Young helper

Miyah Johnson, 9, of Cottage Grove, helps fill Thanksgiving baskets during the St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club event. Scott Wente photo.
• Directing volunteers

Kent Petrie, a Cottage Grove resident and St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club member, gives directions to volunteers after they filled 155 Thanksgiving baskets for local families in need.
• Hustling to deliver

Greg Langbehn, a past president of the St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club, helps load Thanksgiving baskets to be delivered to local families.

Talk about it

The work took just a matter of minutes, but the results will feed more than 150 families this Thanksgiving.

Dozens of volunteers turned out Saturday at the St. Paul Park fire hall to package Thanksgiving food baskets to be distributed to south Washington County families in need. Each basket -- a large box, really -- was filled with a turkey, bag of potatoes, stuffing mix and other fixings. Volunteers, who bought the items at Cub Foods, later drove the baskets to 155 homes, mainly in Newport, Cottage Grove and St. Paul Park. A few Woodbury families also received a basket.

The holiday event is one of three conducted annually by the St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club. The club also packages food baskets for Christmas and Easter.

"It's my favorite project of the year," said Kent Petrie of Cottage Grove, a Lions Club member who helped organize the event. "You feel really good when you go out on those (delivery) routes."

"We feel we're doing a little part trying to make the holidays nice," he added.

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