Saturday, Dec. 19 is hamper delivery day for the Knights of Columbus Community Christmas Hamper Fund and changes have been made this year to accommodate COVID-19 protocols.
What hasn’t changed is that hamper delivery day requires a lot of community help to get the hampers built, loaded out and delivered in one day.
“COVID-19 has forced some changes in how this can be done safely,” Ken Niesin, Hamper Fund chariman, said. “This year we cannot simply have people just show up and pitch in. We must keep the number of volunteers at a level low and organized enough to enable the COVID precautions to be met while the job gets done.”
“For this reason, the Knights have name-requested volunteers to work inside and around the outside of the former Target building warehouse and freight ramps. Please do not just show up, as unfortunately we cannot use you, as much as we would like to. A crowd is a problem these days.”
The exception is the delivery drivers. It is still first come, first loaded as per previous years. There is, however, one very important difference, Niesen said. The drivers must stay in their vehicles. This is called drive-by pickup and is within COVID protocol. The volunteers will load you, no problem. Kids in the back, great. The driver will be trained, especially with the protocol to protect everyone when you get to the front door of the hamper recipient. The accompanying picture indicates how any vehicles wishing to help deliver the hampers should line up.
“Above all other, you should know that your help is totally appreciated,” Niesen said.