Candy Cane Lane, the annual toy and gift giveaway will be Friday, December 21st from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM at 2046 Highway 101 in the former Oldfields Appliance space at the Grocery Outlet Center. No children will be allowed, only parents or guardians. Elves will be on hand to assist in the shopping.
Christmas basket food distribution will be at Florence Food Share this year with food boxes to be handed out Saturday, December 22nd from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at 2190 Spruce Street.
Donations of new, unwrapped toys and gifts for children under the age of 12 can be dropped off at a variety of locations in Florence
The Toy Collection locations are: OPB, OR 1st Community Cr. U., Siuslaw Bank, Sterling Savings, US Bank, WA Federal Savings, 321 Video, AIC Insurance, Coastal Fitness, On Your Feet w/ A Splash, Hoberg Muffler, Pacific 101 Realty, Prudential Pacific, Three Rivers Casino (from Nov. 1st- Dec. 17) Rite Aid, Fred Meyers, The Shipping Shack, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Resurrection Lutheran Church & new this year, Lane Community College (until Dec. 14) & Stonehaven Acupuncture.
Also looking for donations of socks, knitted hats & scarfs, gloves & mittens & new ornaments which can be left in any of the boxes. These will be picked on Dec. 18. & after that any other donations can be brought to the back loading dock door at the Oldfield location until Dec. 20.
We welcome elf volunteers of all shapes, sizes & ages. We ask that all elves stop by (at the back entrance) between Dec. 18-20 for a quick walk through & elf training prior to the Friday Dist. Day between 10 am & 4 pm. We need volunteers (even for a couple hrs !) to sort all the toys as they come in by age & gender, remove price tags, decorate the sock, hat & ornament trees, fill the stocking stuffer gift bags, set up the tables & check-in warming area & all the other tasks that elves do !! Everyone should arrive by 9 am on the 21st, we need at least 2 dozen elves on that day to assist the parents w/ shopping, shopping cart traffic control or just to give out candy canes ! We had approx. 330 families go through Candy Cane Lane last year (889 children got gift bags) in 2 days ! We expect more this year because of the need & the central location & we’re trying to do it on 1 day, in 7 hrs.! We encourage everyone to come lend a hand !
Cash donations for the Christmas Baskets program can be mailed to SOF, PO Box 1209, Florence, Oregon 97439.
Volunteers will be needed for both distributions. For the toy giveaway, please call Carole Manigold at 541-999-9433 for details. For the food basket giveaway, organizers say to just show up at New Life Lutheran Church on Saturday, December 22th at 9:00 AM.