Kitchen Kettle Village Pays It Forward

With the holidays right around the corner, Kitchen Kettle Village aims to helps those in need.

What does Christmas mean to me? It’s the joy of being blessed in oh so many ways. I feel blessed to have a job here at Kitchen Kettle Village surrounded but people who care. The store I work at is blessed to have wonderful customers who care about our local crafters.

So, it’s great to be able to recognize your blessings, but then what does one do with this? I believe you should share and give back what you can. So I decided to initiate a food drive to help out our local families in need. I had a goal to fill a rather large display window with food which I, unfortunately, did not fulfill. What did happen was 2 skids full of assorted food that was donated to our local food bank. It was an overwhelming feeling to be able to see all that food in one place, going to people who needed some assistance and all because of me! I knew the next year I would do it again with greater success.

Forward to the next year and my plans were foiled. The Burnley family stepped in with the idea we make this a KKV wide event! We planned that year to help out 75 local families with a food and toiletry drive. We are now giving to 200 families in our community and it is all funded by donations, small and large. Each family gets all the food needed to make a holiday dinner, lots of additional non-perishable items and they even get milk, bread, butter and fresh fruit. Through the years we have added books, underwear, dental supplies and socks to the program.

We invite the families to pick up their treasures the weekend before Christmas. While here, the kids get to pick out a book of their very own. They also can experience some of the joys of Christmas by decorating a gingerbread, toasting a marshmallow to make a s’more, making a craft project, all compliments of the Burnleys’. The laughter and fun are contagious. I can’t help but hope the day fills their spirits with the joy of life and someday they can give back to someone else in need.

This is an amazing event and every year it touches so many people. It’s heart-wrenching to see such a big need for so many people but it’s amazing to see what happens when a village pulls together to help. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in making sure these families can have a Christmas.

Linda Wentzler- Manager of Village Quilts