MARSHALL — The St. Mary's Helping Hands Committee of St. Mary Parish in Marshall held its 14th annual holiday food basket distribution a week before Christmas at the local IGA. "The manager at Martin's IGA and her staff provided a tremendous amount of support with our effort this year," said Barb Igleheart, a long-time parishioner at St. Mary. "For this we extend our gratitude."
St. Mary's Helping Hands Committee began the distribution in 1999 and the number of baskets needed has continued to increase each year, Igleheart said. "The first year there were just 21 baskets filled and this year the count was 133."
Igleheart said manufacturing and other industries have "taken a hard hit" in Marshall, which is a town of about 3,900. "That and we have the elderly who are on a limited income, so this helps them, too," she said.
The basket-giving tradition originally took place at Thanksgiving time, she said. "But another resource became available for Thanksgiving so we switched to Christmas. We provide a regular meal for the holiday — a ham, pumpkin pie, Cool Whip and all the rest. It has become a great thing." Individuals either picked up the food basket or had it delivered.
Igleheart said her late husband, Dave Igleheart, was instrumental in getting the committee started. "That was his thing," she said. "Originally there were just four of us who did this project but now we're up to 12 committee members."
Support from St. Mary Parish and its parishioners, along with proceeds from fund-raisers and other sources help continue the tradition. The parish, led by Father Mike Haag, helps by taking up an envelope collection for the food baskets. Usually Father Haag is on hand for the actual distribution but he had a funeral that day, Iglehart said.
"Besides the Helping Hands Committee, there are many other volunteers," said Igleheart, who is also employed as coordinator of the Effingham Catholic Charities MedAssist Program. "The committee has been blessed and we are so very thankful for all those blessings. Because of this we wanted to share those blessings with others and we hopefully helped them to have a merry Christmas."