<I>The Eagle/Kim Kell</I><BR>Above, some of the many volunteers pack up baskets and boxes of food and gifts just prior to delivering them around Prairie City. Back row, from left: Melody Field, Sandy Dean, Elaine Kight, Marlene Woodley, Nelda Coe and Kailey Kell Front row, (seated) from left: Kelli Woodworth, Chenise Clark and Krystin Packard.

PRAIRIE CITY – Thanks to the hard work of a number of organizations and individuals, Christmas is going to be brighter again this year for several in the Prairie City community.

According to Marlene Woodley, who has been in charge of the Prairie City Christmas basket program for “umpteen years,” about 33 children, 36 families and some senior citizens, too, recently received baskets and boxes laden with food, gifts and other goodies.

Many of the donations come from hanging “stockings” at Huffman’s Market, each marked with the age and gift wish for an area child.

Woodley said that members of the Strawberry Riders 4-H club usually take care of getting gifts for the ones in the teen-aged kids.

Other organizations and individuals contribute canned goods and other food items. There are also monetary donations which help provide turkeys, potatoes, bread and other staples that are purchased at Huffman’s.

And then there’s the endless number of volunteers who come forward to help sort through it all, wrap gifts, pick up supplies and make the deliveries.

“There are just too many to name,” Woodley said. “The whole town gets involved.”

The program had a small and innocent start back in 1984, when Woodley, Paul and Maxine Woodworth spotted a small boy who was wearing oversized boots and no coat. They felt compelled to try to find out more about him and help out his family.

They helped a few more people the next year, and it just kept growing after that.

Woodley said she usually starts planning in October for the coming Christmas.

And she added that the generosity extends outside of Prairie City, too, with several groups and people from around the county coming forward each year to help out.

“This year’s response was just ‘extraordinary,'” she said.