Volunteers pass out backpacks at the Upper Room Mission following their annual Christmas dinner on Dec.22. (Erin Christie/Morning Star)

Volunteers pass out backpacks at the Upper Room Mission following their annual Christmas dinner on Dec.22. (Erin Christie/Morning Star)

Upper Room Mission hands out over 300 backpacks for Christmas

Vernon always comes through

  • Dec. 22, 2017 12:00 a.m.

The temperature might have dropped this week, but Lisa Anderson, executive director of Vernon’s Upper Room Mission, says “thankfully”, the number of backpack donations rose — just in time.

As of Wednesday, the URM had received roughly 138 backpacks to give out during their annual Christmas dinner. Fortunately, Anderson said by the end of the week, Vernon residents came through, as “they do every year,” providing volunteers with a total of 330 backpacks to hand out after the dinner on Friday night.

During the dinner, volunteers fed more than 200 people.

The Fill-A-Backpack Campaign runs each year before the holidays and provides hundreds of people in need with some extras and essentials in a backpack they can carry with them. The Upper Room Mission will accept backpack donations all year, to learn more, click here

Items suggested for donation include: Warm gloves, scarf, and/or toque Hand Warmers New Socks Small notepad & pens Flashlight Toiletry items (Travel size is best): shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, Kleenex, Band-Aids, First-Aid kit, chapstick, etc. Hard candies

Erin

Christie

Morning Star Staff

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