South Lake Tahoe Moose Lodge donates 50 boxes of food to local families

For seven years the South Lake Tahoe Moose Lodge 1632 has supplied boxes of food supplies for local families in need, and this year will be no different.

This week, members of the lodge will deliver 50 decorated boxes, each packed full of a ham, vegetables, canned goods, pasta, potatoes, bread, tortillas and everything else needed to feed a family a big holiday meal, and then more for leftovers.

This year's recipients will be selected by the Family Resource Center.

Community donations help the Moose not only with the food, but with the decorated boxes. Scotty's Hardware, Alpine Metals, their members, friends and neighbors for helping with filling the boxes.

"We are very thankful," said member Angie Keil.

Also part of the big giveaway were 5th grade students from Sierra House Elementary who pained the boxes that the donated food will go into, and given to each selected family.

Moose member and giveaway coordinator Robbie Koth got the idea from the Jonathan Dale Miller Foundation when he lived in Hawaii. In 1998, Jonathan Dale Miller was a 9-year old boy who was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare and progressive disorder. Unfortunately, the illness was terminal and he was not given much time to live. But when asked what he wanted most, Jonathan responded that he wanted to give Christmas gifts to children in need and help feed the hungry.

After his passing, the Foundation was established to do just that for the people of the Big Island of Hawaii, where Jonathan used to spend his summers. Jonathan’s grandparents are now trustees of the Foundation, which delivers food boxes and toys to needy families—not just in Hawaii, where they live, but also in Jonathan’s hometown in Arizona.

Moose is an international organization of men and women, dedicated to caring for young and old, bringing communities closer together and celebrating life. In South Lake Tahoe, Moose members sponsor the annual fishing derby at Lake Baron, hold the Longest Day of Golf to raise money for the SLT Cancer League as well as dozens of other services to the community. For more information on the local club, visit their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/South-Lake-Tahoe-Moose-Lodge-LOOM-1632WOTM-408-291777516723/.