OWENSVILLE — The application period for Operation Christmas 2023 services close tomorrow (Thursday) and a fund-raising event featuring Santa is scheduled Saturday at the Masonic Lodge in Owensville.

Also closing Nov. 30 is the adoption period for Operation Christmas.

Danah Budnik was seeking donations of gifts for 17 children to be distributed during the Operation Christmas campaign. Anyone wishing to purchase gifts for the remaining children is asked to call her at (573) 578-5745 if you would like more information.

The 2023 project of the Helping Hands Outreach Center of Gasconade County (HHOC) has received several recent donations to support the effort.

Masonic Lodge No. 624 A.F. & A.M. recently donated $1,000 and proceeds from the group’s Breakfast With Santa event from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, are pledged for the 2023 project.

Operation Christmas also received donations of $200 from the Rosebud Memorial American Legion No. 587, and $200 from the local group of automobile enthusiasts, the Gasconade Timing Association, according to Andrew Michel, a volunteer with the HHOC and Operation Christmas project.

Lakeside Book Company recently donated 524 cardboard boxes which will be used along with existing supplies for packaging of food items which are scheduled to be distributed at HHOC on Kosark Road from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 16.

Owensville High School’s Distributive Education Clubs of America chapter (DECA) has contributed to this project with the donation of three pallets full of shampoo products.

The school’s National Honor Society has collected just over 1,100 food items for the distribution. Those items were delivered to HHOC on Nov. 16.

Volunteers will sort and count out all donated food items including three gaylords full of products collected earlier this month by Owensville’s Boy Scout Troop 22 and Cub Scout Pack 22, during the initial sorting planned from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4.

Cub Scouts and their parents will also gather at HHOC at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, to prepare the packing boxes.

A final sort and inventory of food items will take place starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9. All donated gifts for the family adoptions should be delivered to the HHOC by noon on Dec. 9.

Packing of the food boxes is scheduled starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13.

The 2023 campaign has received 34 donated turkeys. Cash Saver has received community support to prepare 91 bags of food items during a project where an $8 donation fills a paper grocery bag with eight different food items.

Among the items provided in the grocer’s “Hometown Helpers” bags are Always Save and Best Choice items including a box of saltines, two cans of chicken noodle soup, a jar of peanut butter, a box of spaghetti, a jar of spaghetti sauce, and two cans of tuna. Michel said Cash Saver is filling the bags through Christmas.