MT. VERNON — The Mt. Vernon Volunteer Fire Department was honored with the Service to Seniors Award on Saturday, March 9, for its holiday food basket program, which has provided some much-needed Christmas cheer to elderly residents for decades.

The award presentation was part of Celebrate Good Neighbors, a city-sponsored event that drew around 120 people to the Mt. Vernon Community Hall for bingo, dinner, live music and revelry.

The Service to Seniors Award was established in 2022 by the Grant County Senior Citizens Advisory Council to recognize volunteers who have provided exemplary service over a sustained period to the county’s senior citizens and to heighten public awareness of the need for volunteers.

Along with a plaque from the council, the firefighters also received a letter of appreciation from the Grant County Court and a folded US flag that had been flown over the Capitol, along with a certificate acknowledging the impact of the senior food program from Congressman Cliff Bentz’s office.

The program started in 1996, when Todd McKinley, now Grant County sheriff, was the Mt. Vernon Volunteer Fire Department’s chief. McKinley learned of a local family in need around the Christmas holiday and, together with some other firefighters and volunteers, assembled a care package for them.

Word spread, and it wasn’t long before the fire department began receiving anonymously donated items from local residents and churches for use in future gift baskets. The program expanded throughout the years into a community institution.

“For the recipients, these baskets help make what for many may be a stark and lonely time into a happier and more hopeful holiday instead,” said Rick LaMountain, the chair of the Grant County Senior Citizens Advisory Council.

Last year, some 50 food baskets were provided to elderly residents by the program.