Geoffry McCafferty
The Broadside
The Associated Students of Cascades Campus are sponsoring a toy and food drive to benefit the South Central Oregon Outreach Toy Run and the LaPine Christmas Basket Association.
The LaPine Christmas Basket Association has helped underprivileged families in South Deschutes County every year for the last 20 years, making sure that at the very least, these families have holiday meals. The baskets they provide include a turkey, rolls, potatoes, and everything else needed for a holiday dinner. They have partnered with SCOOTR Inc. for the last 13 years, helping families to get toys, clothes, and blankets, as well as food during the holiday season. Until now, they’ve done this with little help from outside their community, but are now reaching out to others for assistance.
“We are all very excited to work with ASCC,” said Denise Hatch, SCOOTR Inc founding member. “We have been on our own for 13 years, and we hope to accomplish a lot with the students help. The exposure we are getting really spreads the word about what we do and all the people we help. It is a very exciting time for us.”
According to Hatch, the need is greater than ever this year. The slow recovery in the economy, coupled with the reality that La Pine’s economy depended so heavily upon many forestry products, explains the unprecedented amount of applications for food baskets, toys and clothes from both of the organizations. Pressed with mounting need, they are also struggling with a downturn in the number of volunteers to help raise funds and distribute collected items. ASCC has stepped up to relieve some of that worry.
“ASCC feels that it is important to reach out and help the communities of our area in anyway we can,” said ASCC president, Jessica Corrales. “SCOOTR and the La Pine Christmas basket reached out to us and we were happy to take this on.”
ASCC is also hosting a movie night on Dec. 1 to benefit local charities as well. They are asking for one can of non-perishable food per movie ticket, which can be obtained in the ASCC office, Cascades RM 105C up until the day of the movie. The movie, a Disney favorite, will run from 7:00pm to 10:00pm in the Hitchcock Auditorium. Doors open at 6:30pm, popcorn and beverages provided. Open to students and their family members. Email, call or visit the ASCC office for details on the movie.
You may contact Geoffry McCafferty at [email protected]