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Food insecurity has continued to increase in Bon Homme County as those who volunteer with the Feeding SD food distributions have noticed each month, as well as a continued increase in utilization of the Bon Homme and Scotland Food Pantries. As a means to assist those in need, the Bon Homme Food Pantry board provided 247 individuals and families with the ingredients for a Christmas meal. The meals were packed and distributed to the five towns in the county December 6. In 2018, the Christmas box delivery assisted 153 households; in 2019, 203 households were assisted; in 2020, 225 households were assisted; 255 households were assisted in 2021 and 280 households received assistance in 2022. The breakdown of the number of households by town is as follows: Avon – 26; Scotland – 57 (down 6 from 2022); Springfield – 54 (down 15 from 2022); Tabor – 20 (down 6 from 2022) and Tyndall – 90 (down 10 from 2022). The number of those receiving the meals was less this year, but this may be due to people not requesting assistance as in other years and/or people moving from the area. The meals were packed and delivered to those who had signed up for holiday assistance through the schools; who receive monthly commodity boxes for the elderly; who regularly utilize either the Tyndall or Scotland food pantry and whose names were submitted to the Christmas box committee as someone who could use some help during the holidays. The food pantry board made the change from the Christmas boxes to a Christmas meal this summer, due to the increase in cost of food as well as issues with availability of certain food items normally included in the boxes. Once again, the Bon Homme School District secretaries in Springfield and Tyndall and the district office, Lori Cihak in Avon and Peggy Schelske in Scotland were a great help in gathering the forms and getting the names of the families to the committee. The order for food was placed the first week in October and thankfully, everything ordered arrived in time. Again as in years past, a bid process was used and food for the meals was again ordered from Doug’s Food Center in Springfield and Cahoy’s General Store in Tyndall. This year, a generous donor gifted the committee with a pound of butter for each meal distributed. Sherrill Chambers contributed a hand-crocheted dishcloth for each recipient. Each bag also contained a Christmas card from the food pantry board, which was signed for the board by Shirley Sutera. Tyndall Good Samaritan Society and Avera St. Michael’s Hospital contributed the reusable bags for the meals to be carried in. Once the food was ordered, the address lists of recipients for each town were put together and organized to assist with the process of packing and delivering the meals and labels were run to be placed on the bags to make it easier for those delivering. December 6, the volunteers gathered at the Tyndall Auditorium to pack the meals into the bags labeled with the recipients’ names and were organized by town to make it easier for those picking up the meals for distribution. Utilizing the assembly line process, the volunteers again completed packing all the meals for the households in just forty-five (45) minutes! Once packed, the volunteers began arriving at the community center late in the afternoon and early evening, where they received the list of recipients with their addresses for their towns and to pick up the bags for distribution. Those assisting with preparations for packing as well as packing and organizing the meals were Lori Cihak, Avon; Alice Petrik, Dan Krier, Lori Krier and Jim Pisano, Springfield; Peggy Schelske, Rudy and Diana Jerke and Verlyn Jerke, Scotland and the following from Tyndall: Julie Schenkel, Ron and Janet Wagner, Sheila Kremer, Zane Kremer, Katy Cihak. The meals were delivered by volunteers from the communities in the county, Dan and Lori Krier, Jim Pisano, Alice Petrik, Justin Pisano, Doug Magee, Cindy Tolsma, Merlin Tolsma, Lorri Dietsch, Carolyn Kastein and Judy Ludens, Springfield; Kevin Tjeerdsma, Avon fire chief and members of the Avon Fire Department; Peggy Schelske as well as other volunteers in Scotland; Ken Carda, fire chief and Aaron Melichar, Tabor and Jamie Muller, fire chief and members of the Tyndall Fire Department and ambulance service: Francis Koster, Eric Elsberry, Ron Wagner, Mike Schmidt, Kelly and Oaklee Young, Lee Hoerth, Dustin Cuka and Dan Bures. The food pantry Christmas box committee greatly appreciates the monetary donations from the public which assisted in making the holidays a little brighter for those in need, the donation of butter for the meals, the dishcloths for inclusion in the meal bags, the donation of the bags for the meals, the assistance from the volunteers with packing and distributing the meals, as well as the City of Tyndall for allowing the committee to use the auditorium for packing the meals and the use of the old Tyndall ambulance for delivering the meals.