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ALBION – The Orleans Koinonia Kitchen celebrated its annual Christmas event on Thursday and served over 600 meals.

The OK Kitchen also gave gifts and goodie bags to 175 children. Faith Smith, the kitchen’s director, said the OK Kitchen assisted 275 families with food and gifts.

The Community of Hope Church prepared the hot meals, with to-go meals put together by Harvest Christian Fellowship.

The goodie bags for adults were handed out by Rome Santiago. Children received a filled fanny pack, goody bag and a toy that were given out by Annabella Dusharm and Meleana Mengs. Every family received a food box filled with non-perishable foods, eggs, fresh produce, Christmas tree cakes and frozen chicken that were handed out by Michael Smith and Albion Lions member Kevin Howard.

Debbie Coon Barbato set up a holiday craft table for children.  Kelly Follman, a Lyndonville music teacher, and a student played music for the group at the OK Kitchen.

“We were blessed with so many donations from the community,” Smith said. She listed Harvest Christian Fellowship, Community of Hope, The Albion/Medina Lions, Albion Save-A-Lot ,Tops in Albion, Albion Faith Fellowship, Albion Middle School, Albion National Honor Society, Pirate Toys, Frosty & Friends, the Millers Bulk Food & Bakery, and Foodlink.

The kitchen is based at Harvest Christian Fellowship and served about 35,000 meals on Thursdays this year. The kitchen will be closed on Christmas and be back open on Jan. 1.

The OK Kitchen also gave out over 2,300 frozen meals, over 1,700 extra care bags, 1,600 food bags, 900 cleaning/laundry bags and over 750 bags for homeless people.

Faith Smith, the kitchen’s director, said the site is now fully supported by Foodlink.

“We will now be getting food on a regular basis, so we are looking for groups to come cook at the kitchen,” she said. “We will be supplying everything, food included!”

Volunteers are welcome to go to the OK Kitchen website – www.okkitchen.org, click the calendar and date, and send Smith a message.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Members of the U-16 Lady Dukes softball team donated a bunch of toys to the Elks Lodge in Albion. The Elks have since given those toys to shared with students in the Albion school district.

The U-16 team includes Aubrielle Barry of Albion, whose parents Lisa and Chris Barry are both members of the Elks.

The Lady Dukes play their home games at Niagara-Wheatfield High School. They practice every Wednesday and Sunday, and play in many tournaments with most of their 70 to 75-game season in June and July. Most of the players are from Niagara and Erie counties.

Many of the team members were in Albion last Saturday to drop off the toys. The Lady Dukes they attended the Charles W. Howard Hometown Parade featuring more than 30 lighted floats in Albion.

Pictured in front from left include: Jenna Linderman, Madyson Flint, Madison Miller and Giana Fiorella.

In back include Lynda Standish, secretary of the Elks; Mike Jenks, exalted ruler of the Elks in Albion; Kyle Flint, Lady Dukes coach; Lillyana Dunsworth; Aubrielle Barry; Nicole Miller, assistant coach; Richard Robb, leading knight; and Jen Stephenson, member of the Elks.

The team shopped for the gifts at Target on Niagara Falls Boulevard.

Coach Flint said the players were enthusiastic about picking out toys for kids in the Albion school district.

“It was awesome to see the girls giving back,” he said.

Other team members not in the photo include Addison MacDougal, Ava Fraser, Grace Ortman, Leah Skurzewski, Leighton King and Zoie Downey.

The toys from the Lady Dukes and Elks Lodge were dropped off at the Albion school district. Pictured from left to right include Niccole More, Albion Elementary School social worker; Mike Jenks, Elks Exalted Ruler; Carl Phillips, Elks Trustee; and Angela Conway, Albion Elementary principal.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Josh Mitchell, a funeral director with Mitchell Family Cremations & Funerals, lights candles in honor of loved ones of people who attended a “Service of Remembrance & Hope” on Thursday evening at the First Baptist Church of Albion.

The service was presented by Mitchell Family Cremations & Funerals and the Albion Ministerium.

About 25 people attended. They wrote names of loved ones who were recognized by lighting candles and also by having those names read out loud during the service.

Gary Simboli, a retired music teacher at Albion, performs, “Mary, Did You Know?” during the service.

The Rev. Dr. Brenda Bierdeman, a minister at the Albion Free Methodist Church, reads scripture from Psalm 61:1-4, and Psalm 62: 1-2. “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken,” part of the passage states.

Erin Moody sings “Christmas in Heaven” during the service. He lit a candle in honor of his son Brennan, who passed away from a car accident when he was 17 on June 18, 2019.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Community Action staff and volunteers pose in a room at the Main Street Corner Thrift Store in Albion, which is filled with gifts and food for 131 families. Gifts were distributed on Thursday. From left are Ryan Lasal, director of Community Planning at CAOG; Nicki Targa, Emergency Services assistant; Kristina Ettinger, director of Community Services; and Maria Morgan, a volunteer.

ALBION – Three hundred and forty-one families will enjoy Christmas dinner and celebrate with gifts, thanks to Community Action of Orleans and Genesee counties and generous contributions from the community.

Community Action’s Christmas giveaway has been an ongoing program to assist families struggling financially. This year saw one of the largest (if not the largest) number of requests.

Ryan Lasal, director of Community Programming at Community Action, gives a ham to Filamena Salyer of Albion. In addition to food for Christmas dinner, Salyer received gifts for her young son.

In Albion 131 families received gifts and food for a Christmas dinner, which included a ham. Holley gave out gifts and food to 36 families, while Genesee County filled 174 requests.

Every eligible family who applied received a box of food with a ham or turkey and food for a traditional holiday meal, said Ryan Lasal, director of Community Planning at CAOG. Children filled out a wish list and each child received a gift, Lasal said.

On Tuesday, Lasal and Kristina Ettinger, Community Services organizer, were assisted by Nicki Targa, Emergency Services assistant and volunteers Brittany Knight, her son Teddy and Maria Morgan. Morgan regularly works 21 hours a week volunteering, Lasal said.

Ettinger said by the end of the day on Tuesday, most all of the packages will have been distributed.

The distribution took place at the rear of Community Action’s Main Street Corner Thrift Store, where two rooms were filled with bags and boxes of gifts and food.

One resident who happily picked up his gifts was Dennis Massey of Albion.

“Getting this food means we won’t be hungry on Christmas,” he said. “This is a gift from God.”

Massey said there are four in his family who will now have a Merry Christmas. He said Community Action has helped him before and he was very thankful.

Brittany Knight volunteered to help with her son Teddy, 8.

“Community Action gave to us when we first moved here, and we wanted to give back,” Knight said.

While requests for holiday assistance were up from last year, Lasal said they were able to fill all requests because of the generosity of the community.

“A lot of organizations stepped up and adopted children,” Lasal said. “This is the most prepared we’ve been for the holiday.”

Last year, Community Action served a total of 244 families in both counties.

“When SNAP benefits were canceled, the community really rallied around our agency,” Lasal said. “We saw a big influx of donations and cash.”

He said they worked with Walmart to buy 160 hams and 130 turkeys.

Toys and gifts for children were made possible through donations from the Pirate Toy Fund of Rochester, Toys for Tots and a toy drive by Canalside Tattoo in Medina.

“A lot of community members just came in and dropped off presents, food and cash,” Ettinger said.

Filomena Salyer of Albion was another resident whose family will have a happy holiday because of Community Action.

“Getting food for Christmas and gifts for my son means a lot to me,” Salyer said. “I am very thankful for Community Action. By the grace of God they have been very generous to me. Our Christmas would be pretty bland without their support. I thank God for this place.”

Community Action of Orleans and Genesee gave out Christmas food and gifts to more than 300 families on Tuesday. Here, Dennis Massey of Albion, right, picks up his gifts and Christmas ham from Kristina Ettinger, director of Community Services; Teddy Knight, 8; and Ryan Lasal, director of Community Programming at COAG.