Eighty-One Thanksgiving Baskets Collected for Families in Need

Local volunteers collected 81 Thanksgiving baskets for families in need. Each basket contains everything needed for a traditional family Thanksgiving meal. The Holy Smokers men’s group of St. James Episcopal Church provided a smoked turkey for each basket. Local nurse Laurie Quitta helped to organize the effort. In prior year’s St. Mark’s Medical Center organized the effort. But now that the hospital has closed, Tejas Health Care of La Grange became the collection point. The Family Crisis Center identified the families in need and will deliver the baskets.

“We feel the impact of the hospital closing by having just half the baskets we normally get,” Quitta said. “But we’ll take what we can get and be happy with that. God has blessed us and we share it with others.”

“Coming out of the loss of St. Mark’s, this is especially special for you guys to take this on and continue the tradition,” said Bernie Jackson of the Family Crisis Center. “It has a different meaning because we have people who lost their jobs and you guys still decided to give.”

A number of local businesses and organizations assisted in the Thanksgiving basket drive. They include the Blinn College Licensed Vocational Nursing Class, St. Mark’s Employee Heart Club, St. Mark’s Medical Center Auxiliary, American Legion Auxiliary #102, La Grange Family Health, the Catholic Daughers of the Americas Courts of Hostyn and La Grange, KJZT and Round Top Bank, along with a host of private