Newcomers Keep Thanksgiving Basket Program Alive

Every year, The Holliston Newcomers Club puts together Thanksgiving baskets for patrons of the Holliston Food Pantry, and every year, the need grows. In 2015, with help from the Holliston community, the group supplied 163 Thanksgiving boxes to food pantry patrons, which rose to 168 last year. This year, they’re expecting even more.
Local Town Pages spoke with Holliston Newcomer Lisa Egnitz about the effort. Egnitz says the Holliston Pantry Shelf often reminds the Newcomers that they wouldn’t be able to handle this project without their help.
“For our civic duty obligations, this is the biggest project we have,” says Egnitz. “It reaches the most amount of people. We meet with the food pantry on this project, and they make it clear that without the Holliston Newcomers, they wouldn’t be able to keep this project alive. It’s definitely our biggest focus from a civic duty standpoint.
Aside from a turkey, which food pantry patrons can purchase with an enclosed $20 gift card, each basket contains everything a family might need for a full Thanksgiving meal – turkey, rolls, pie, carrots, potatoes, squash, gravy, cranberry sauce and tea to name a few of the items. The project is made possible through generous donations from our community - local businesses and individuals.
“The Girl Scouts are going to be helping us out again at the food drive again this year,” says Egnitz. “They bring in the goods, that’s for sure.”
The large number of baskets requires a big space for organization and packing. The Newcomers are very grateful this year to the Holliston Historical Society again donating space for basket packing day. Basket assembly will take place the morning of Saturday, November 18th, and baskets are assembled by the Newcomers and volunteers the food pantry.
“The food pantry donates their time, and they come with their big truck, and we pick up hundreds of pounds of fresh produce from Shaw’s. We pick all that up in the morning and drop it off at the Historical Society barn. The Girl Scouts also make holiday cards that we actually include in the basket,” says Egnitz.
This is a big undertaking and the Newcomers could use your help! If you are short on time, they accept monetary donations through our website www.hollistonnewcomers.org
Click on Thanksgiving Baskets under the Civic & Community heading on the left side of the page. You can choose to donate $10 to purchase a pie, $25 to purchase a pie and produce, $20 to purchase a turkey or $75 to help put together an entire Thanksgiving Basket.
If you prefer to send a check please make it out to Holliston Newcomers Club and send to Holliston Newcomers Club, marking the check as for Thanksgiving Baskets, via Katrine Giroux, 147 Mohawk Path, Holliston.
Or, if you prefer to shop yourself, attend the food drive at Saturday, November 4th, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Shaw’s in Ashland. All donations received that day go directly to the Thanksgiving Basket Project.
Items can also be dropped at these locations by November 8th:
• The Colburn Family, 922 Highland Street
• The Egnitz Family, 43 Oak Street 
• The Giroux Family, 147 Mohawk Path
Any questions - please contact:
Please contact Lisa Egnitz lisame529@gmail.com,  Debbie Colburn cd.mp@verizon.net , Katrine Giroux katrinegiroux@gmail.com, or Melissa Marien melissa.a.cloutier@gmail.com.