BOWDEN — The Bowden Lions Club is carrying on the tradition of giving out food baskets for the needy at Christmas.
Holiday Hampers is the new name for the Silent Santa program that ran for many years in Bowden.
The Bowden Lions Club took over the program this fall when organizers could no longer do it.
The club renamed it Holiday Hampers because members are anticipating possibly offering the program at other times of the year, like Easter or Thanksgiving.
Carla Sparks, a member of the Lions Club board, anticipates Holiday Hampers organizers will receive between 30 and maybe 50 applications, due to inflation and the difficult economy. Application cut off was Dec. 11.
It’s her understanding that the old program received about 20 last year.
Sparks says this year at least, the hampers will consist only of non-perishable food items, plus likely some gift cards from stores for food stuffs.
During an interview with the Albertan, Sparks said the Lions Club will review how the program went and decide whether or not to include gifts next year.
“We're just starting off fresh and yeah, it's trying to support families in our community,” she said.
“We know that there's some other wonderful programs out there that families can go to get actual gifts, but as for us, we're focusing just on the food itself.”
That’s not all the Bowden Lions have done to celebrate the holidays.
They teamed up with the town to hold the Bowden Christmas Festival.
A tree-lighting event was followed by several events at the Igloo, including a free public skate, sleigh rides, a bonfire and crafts. Hotdogs and hot chocolate were available too.
Food or monetary donations for Holiday Hampers were also welcome.
A day later, the Lions were also on hand for the Christmas Market in the Patterson Community Hall.
There, they sold Christmas ornaments and accepted donations for the Holiday Hampers.
