Tribune-Star, with help of community, has been delivering Christmas baskets since 1928

For at least 10 years, Suzi Unger and her family have delivered food baskets on Christmas Eve as part of the Tribune-Star’s annual Christmas Basket project.

She started the family tradition because she wanted her children to learn more about their community and also to volunteer and give back to their community.

Unger also felt it would teach her kids some invaluable lessons.

“There are so many people that need help,” she said.

It’s an easy and fun way to give back, and the rewards are great, she said. Recipients might show their appreciation with a hug, or they might extend a “thank you” because they are unable to lift a heavy food basket onto a counter themselves.

Unger, an avid newspaper reader who lives in Terre Haute, used to deliver the Indianapolis Star by bicycle in Rockville, and her mom, Eloise Lovell, formerly worked for the Parke County Sentinel.

The Tribune-Star Christmas basket fund drive goes back many years.

In 1928, the combined staffs of the Terre Haute Tribune and the Terre Haute Star inaugurated the program, and again this year on Saturday, Dec. 23, the Tribune-Star, its partners and volunteers hope to deliver 675 food baskets to families experiencing food insecurity.

To achieve that number of baskets, the newspaper aims to raise $26,000 for its annual Christmas Basket Fund drive, which kicks off Thanksgiving Day. Donors’ names and the amount of their gift will be published daily on the front page of the newspaper unless anonymity is requested.

Kim Wilkerson has been involved in organizing the program each year since the early 1990s.

“I enjoy doing it because there’s such a great need,” said Wilkerson of the Tribune-Star’s business office. “There are a lot of families out there who can use the help.”

The food baskets distributed the morning of Christmas Eve will include ham, sweet potatoes, canned goods, macaroni and cheese, fresh fruit, bread, milk and pumpkin pie.

Baesler’s Market provides food for the baskets at cost, while B&B Foods provides a refrigerated truck to store the baskets. The Salvation Army provides the Tribune-Star with a list of families in need.

Last year, the Indiana Air National Guard took the names the Tribune-Star received from the Salvation Army and organized the routes, put together the baskets and loaded the baskets into the volunteers’ cars.

They will take care of logistics again this year.

The 181st Intelligence Wing has been involved with the Tribune-Star Christmas basket drive for several years, said Lt. Col. Rick Wood, of the 181st mission support group.

Early on, they helped pass out baskets to the volunteer delivery drivers. More recently, Wilkerson asked if the 181st Intelligence Wing would increase the help and assist her team in organizing the logistics of building the baskets and safely organize the pick-up location where the volunteer drivers come to pick up the meals to be delivered.

“Organizing and moving massive amounts of equipment and personnel is what we do in the Air National Guard in our daily jobs,” Wood said. “We graciously accepted the task and had about 150-plus airmen” build the food baskets in less than two hours and organize the delivery routes in about two days.

The Wing continues to support this event and many others throughout the year, Wood said.

“An added benefit is the ability to work alongside our neighbors and young Jr. ROTC cadets,” he said. “We thank the Tribune-Star and the community for giving the 181st Intelligence Wing an opportunity to be part of such a special event.”

This year, Lt. Col. Corrine Foree will oversee the 181st’s efforts to assist the Tribune-Star Christmas basket project.

Volunteers will distribute the baskets on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 23, this year since Christmas Eve fall on a Sunday.

Many people are willing to volunteer, and most volunteers come back year after year to help, Wilkerson said. While they expect to have enough volunteers, those who want to be on standby can call her at 812-231-4219.

Members of the Terre Haute South Rotary Club have delivered baskets for at least 20 years, said Rick Whitlock, who coordinates the South Rotary basket delivery effort.

He also has contacts in the community that he will reach out to to assist with delivery.

Eleven years ago, Whitlock had his young grandson deliver with him, and they took a number of baskets to Dreiser Square.

His grandson started talking to one of the recipients, an elderly woman; he asked about her family and Christmas plans.

She told the grandson her family lived in California and she would be by herself on Christmas.

When they got back to the car, his grandson told Whitlock he wanted to deliver baskets again the next year “because it makes me feel warm inside.” His grandson, now a teenager, is still delivering baskets, Whitlock said.

“Once you deliver, you’re going to come back. You’re going to do it again,” Whitlock said. Just as his grandson said several years ago, “It makes you feel warm inside.”

Unger and her family are among those who will be back to deliver baskets once again.

Her family is very blessed, she said. “There is just so much opportunity to give and we need to do as much as we can,” she said.

This story appeared in the November/December 2023 edition of Terre Haute Living.