The calendar has only just shifted into the fall months and Halloween may be the next major holiday on the horizon but one local nonprofit organization is already setting its sights on the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas.
Each year, the Lions Club of the Pahrump Valley helps bring the joy of the Christmas season to the community by hand-delivering holiday presents to children through its Letters to Santa program.
The organization is currently gearing up for the 2019 effort and the Pahrump Moose Lodge #808 is stepping up to lend a hand by hosting one of its well-known donation dinner events to help offset the cost of the Letters to Santa program.
Set for 3 to 6 p.m. this Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Moose Lodge, 1100 Second Street, the donation dinner will include spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. There will also be an ice cream social hosted by the Women of the Moose, chance drawings by the Lions Club and even some festive entertainment by the talented ladies of the Nevada Silver Tappers.
The donation dinner is open to the public and will have all proceeds earmarked for the Letters to Santa program.
“The Letters to Santa program answers letter to Santa that have been written and mailed to Santa in Pahrump and Beatty,” Pahrump Lions Club President Brigitte Dubin told the Pahrump Valley Times.
The program is open to children 12 years of age and younger, regardless of their family’s financial situation. In past years, the Lions Club has provided Christmas gifts to hundreds and hundreds of area youngsters, ranging from dolls, toy trucks and art supplies to puzzles, plush stuffed animals, board games and more. The goal, Lions Club members have stated, is simply to spread holiday cheer as far and wide as possible.
In order to take part, children must pen a letter to old Kris Kringle detailing what they’d like for Christmas and then make sure that letter ends up in the hands of the Lions Club.
Letters to Santa can be handed in one of two ways. Children can give them directly to the man himself, Father Christmas, during the Lions Club’s Breakfast with Santa event, which is typically scheduled for early December or they can drop them in the giant, oversized mailbox that will be placed at the main post office in Pahrump for that specific purpose.
Parents should look for details on when the Breakfast with Santa event will be held and when the mailbox is set out in an upcoming edition of the Times.
“Donations of new toys, money and volunteers are always welcome,” Dubin said when asked what additional methods residents could employ to support the organization. “We meet the first and third Tuesday of each month at the Pourhouse at 6:30 p.m. Come early if you wish to order dinner.”
For more information contact the Lions Club on its Facebook page.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com