Now in its 21st season of holiday helpfulness, the Christmas Food Basket program of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Benevolent Association delivered an extra helping of food Thursday morning to some six dozen families across Dallas County.
From their staging grounds at the Dallas County Extension offices on the fairgounds in Adel, volunteers from the sheriff’s office and various public safety agencies from cities around Dallas County loaded their vehicles and fanned out to area towns and farm houses, bringing meat and potatoes, bread and milk and eggs, blankets and toys “and various other foods and sundries” to county families, according to the Sheriff’s Benevolent Association.
The origins of the sheriff’s office holiday benevolence date unofficially to 1990, with the delivery of small, private gifts, and the program slowly grew. As few as eight or 10 baskets were delivered countywide in the early years, according to Perry Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Chris Hinds, a longtime Dallas County Deputy Sheriff.
“A few of us would fill our patrol cars with food,” Hinds said. The program became an officially organized event of the Sheriff’s Benevolent Association in 1995, and the Perry Volunteer Fire Department has participated since 2009, the year of Hinds’ retirement from the county force.
This year’s delivery team in Perry was led by Hinds, who was assisted by Perry Volunteer Fire Department members Grayson Hill, Aimee Bane and Jason Bane. The Perry volunteers delivered 16 baskets to families in Perry, with additional baskets bound for families in Bouton, Dawson and Minburn.
Donations from volunteers and local business are the backbone of the Benevolent Food Basket program. Doug Bruce, owner of Osmundson Manufacturing in Perry, is a large and longtime supporter of the holiday food program. Additional donations came from Tyson Fresh Meats in Perry, the Adel Fareway, Pepsi Cola, Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling in Waukee, the Perry Hy-Vee, NW Trailer Sales and Service in Adel, the Dallas County Fair Board, Hy-Line International in Dallas Center “and many other business, citizens and volunteers,” according to the Sheriff’s Benevolent Association.
