LAPLACE – With the Christmas holiday rapidly approaching, the first annual “Food for Families” drive is urgently asking the community to join with us here at L’Observateur as we try to help needy families in the River Region.

We are currently seeking donations of non-perishable food items, or monetary donations that we will use to buy food. We will box the food together and deliver boxes to needy families in the area on Saturday, December 18.

We have also solicited the public for nominations of those who need some help for this holiday season, and as usual with this kind of program, the needs are currently far exceeding the donations.

“I hope the community will join with us this year to help many of the families in this area who really are not going to have a very merry Christmas,” L’Observateur Publisher Kevin Chiri said. “We have already gotten quite a few requests for help for area families, and quite honestly, the donations at this point are very slow in coming in.”

One of the more common requests comes from senior citizens who are on fixed incomes.

“The first groups we usually try to help are the seniors who can barely get by,” Chiri explained. “You would be surprised how many senior citizens live right around us all, and they struggle to just pay for food and medicine each month. The box of food we deliver really helps more than you can imagine.”

100 percent of the donations that come to our program will be returned to needy individuals and families, and all the delivery work will personally be done by employees here at the paper.

You may bring donations to the L’Observateur office at 116 Newspaper Dr., (just off Main St. behind the New Home Ministries Church). Or you can mail monetary donations to “Food for Families,” c/o L’Observateur, P.O. Box 1010, LaPlace, La., 70069.

The deadline to donate food is Wednesday, Dec. 16.

Chiri is hoping that local businesses will take the food drive on as a project themselves, perhaps having a box at their office and asking each employee to bring a few items that can be dropped off at the newspaper.

Additionally, many clubs or organizations could hold similar drives for food that will help families or needy individuals get some help.

We are also asking for nominations of families or individuals who need a food box. You can nominate someone by filling out the form at the end of this story and mailing it to the address listed earlier in this story, or dropping it off at the L’Observateur office.