Community Action gives out food and gifts to more than 300 families

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.