Once again, Holy Rosary Council #1055 in Paducah, KY held its annual Christmas Tree Sale in November and December 2018 to raise funds for the annual Christmas Food Basket program, which was accomplished in association with the Family Service Society of Paducah, KY. A minimum of two Brother Knights manned the post at the local Farmer’s Market Pavilion near the floodwall near downtown Paducah, from Black Friday on November 23rd until Sunday, December 16th for an estimated total of 400 man-hours of putting smiles on customer faces with the excitement of selecting a live evergreen tree as the centerpiece of their Christmas season decorations in their homes. Tree sales this year were very successful with all 180 trees sold for a net revenue of approximately $11,000.
These funds were then used to purchase approximately $6500.00 for groceries, hams, bread & milk for 94 Christmas Baskets (overflowing sturdy egg carton boxes) which were donated to Family Service Society(FSS) and then made available to over 90 families from the Paducah area, by pickup from the KC #1055 Hall with the oversight and help from FSS of Paducah. On Friday, December 21st, six Brother Knights used several pickup trucks with large flatbed trailers to drive to a local grocer “Save-a-Lot”, who provided the lowest overall bid for this bulk purchase of groceries, and they loaded, transported and unloaded these groceries at the KC #1055 Hall for distribution on Saturday, December 22nd .
Later in the afternoon on Friday the 21st, other groups, including the Daughters of Isabella and associated Sisters of Service, the Boy Scouts from the troop associated with the local Catholic school, and Family Service Society, assisted Brother Knights with the debulking of the non-perishable groceries from bulk containers to the 94 “baskets” to be distributed on the next day. Hams were purchased from a local business owned & managed by one of our Brother Knights of Council #1055 and were stored in the KC Hall refrigerators overnight. Milk was scheduled for delivery on Saturday morning, prior to distribution to families in need in the Paducah area. It is estimated that approximately 60 man-hours were expended by Brother Knights to load, transport, and unload groceries and then oversee de-bulking of groceries by other groups. It is estimated that approximately 45 “person-hours” were expended by the other groups for de-bulking. On Saturday morning, it is estimated that slightly more than 75 “person-hours” were expended by Brother Knights and Family Service Society for the distribution of these Christmas Baskets to identified families in need in the Paducah area.
Most were picked up by family members, who verified identity against an approved list of names verified by Family Service Society using Charity Tracker software. A few baskets were delivered by Brother Knights to homebound handicapped families that were unable to make arrangements.
