By Lucky Kidd
LARNED, Kan. — The Fort Larned Lions Club will be distributing holiday food boxes and gifts in Pawnee County Saturday. This is the final year the Fort Larned Lions is overseeing the food basket part of the program along with the distribution, with the United Way of Central Kansas and community partners including the Jordaan Community Library assuming this in 2025.
Ron VanCleave with the Fort Larned Lions expressed thanks for the community’s support over the past 51 years during a Larned Area Chamber of Commerce coffee hour Tuesday. “My club, and also the noon (Lions) club, we’re separate groups but we’re all kind of together for whatever has to be done in the community” VanCleave said.
VanCleave has been involved in the project for 44 years of its existence. This year 70 families are being assisted, comprising 118 adults and 78 children aged 13 and under.
The overall holiday project in Pawnee County also involved Pawnee Valley Community Hospital, which oversees the Angel Tree program and Larned High School’s Student Council which takes care of toy collection.
Lion Steve Lewis said another group from LHS also came forward to help, as their JAG students assisted on Tuesday with sorting the food that’s being distributed tomorrow, explaining “we had like five pallets of food, and they basically sorted it out on the trailers, and helped with the counts and stuff like that”
They also assisted in building the food boxes, which were donated by Cal-Maine Foods in Chase.
Volunteers are still needed to assist with the distribution Saturday, and if you can help come to Carr Auction and Real Estate at 909 Auction Avenue, just off K-156 on the west edge of Larned, at 8 AM. The actual distribution will begin at 9 and if they have enough volunteers they should be finished by noon.
