For 40 years, the Clovis Elks Club has been distributing Thanksgiving meal baskets to local families in need.
This year, the Elks carry on that tradition of giving back by looking for local citizens and businesses to help with providing items for 150 Thanksgiving meal baskets to local, less fortunate families.
Each year at Thanksgiving, the Clovis Elks partner with the Clovis Unified School District’s (CUSD) Child Nutrition Program to achieve their goal of providing a Thanksgiving meal worthy of celebrating for local families who otherwise cannot afford it.
The Elks Club faces a new situation this year. There are six to eight homeless families who qualified for the Elk’s Thanksgiving Basket Program in need of a Thanksgiving dinner. These families do not have the use of a kitchen to prepare the items usually provided in the Thanksgiving meal baskets.
For this special circumstance, the Elks are looking for any generous restaurants that feel they can provide free family meals on Thanksgiving day for these families in need.
The Elks are even able to pay for these family meals, given the right restaurant or facility can provide them at a good discount.
The Elks Club is looking to raise money and food donations now through November 26. The food items do not have to be Thanksgiving related.
Items needed for this year’s baskets are:
Fresh produce, such as carrots, celery, potatoes, yams
Canned goods
Uncooked rice, pasta
Stuffing mix, gravy mix
Small game hens, chickens, hams
Last year, the Elks were even able to include $10 Target gift certificates in each family’s basket.
The baskets will be distributed into the community on Wednesday, Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving, after a long night of volunteers from the Elks Club, Boy Scouts and other citizens stuffing baskets with care while they enjoy pizza and beverages provided by the Elks Club.
All donations are tax deductible and stay in the community. For more information, contact the Clovis Elks Club at (559) 299-9111