Fun Runners make $1,000 donation to Christmas Hamper Society, Wheatland County Food Bank

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Fun Runners made a $1,000 donation to each of the local Christmas Hamper Society, and the Wheatland County Food Bank.

Cheques were presented to the respective organizations during the regular Fun Runners meeting, Nov. 9, prior to regular club business being addressed. 

According to Terry Montford, who spoke on behalf of the Fun Runners, the money was raised during the annual car show hosted at Kinsmen Park in July.

“We had invited a member of the food bank and a member of the Christmas Hamper Society down to receive cheques, and then we carried on with our meetings,” he said. “That was through our car show in July at (Kinsmen) Park. We managed to be able to give $4,000 away – $2,000 to the women’s shelter, and $1,000 each to the food bank and Christmas hamper.”

The Fun Runners’ donations to the food bank and Christmas Hamper Society were made this month, rather than immediately following the car show, as Montford explained the club first needed to ensure their own expenses were accounted for, prior to making their donations back into the community. 

Brian Allemang, who collected the donation on behalf of the Christmas Hamper Society, said the organization was grateful to receive all the extra support they can get, particularly with the holiday season around the corner. 

“If it wasn’t for the businesses and the community … in town here, there wouldn’t be an organization like this here,” he said.

Allemang explained typically during the Christmas Hamper Society’s first three weeks of operation, food and donations are typically collected from businesses, and schools are visited during the first week of December. 

“The hampers are usually made up … towards the end of the month and it goes by members of each family … the distribution this year is going to be on the 16th of December and the 18th of December,” he said. “I would say we will distribute probably around 350 hampers this year. I might be a little high, but I have no idea what it’s going to be like this year.”

Lynnette Aschenbrenner, executive director for the Wheatland County Food Bank, said she is excited to see so much community support coming in, as well as to receive help once again from the Fun Runners.

“It is great to have all the community support and we just love everything that the Fun Runners are about. They’re about supporting the community and we love the car show … it’s a great, great thing to be a part of,” she said. “The Fun Runners have done this for us before. They have their annual car show every year and they pick a different charity all the time. We have been their charity before, so we are honoured to have been picked once again.”

Both the Christmas Hamper Society and food bank are continuing to seek both volunteers and contributions to support their efforts through the upcoming holiday season. Information about how to support both is available via their respective websites.