Charity starts at home with Fallonites

Residents say Churchill County is a wonderful place to live because of its giving nature.

Every year, the Christian Life Center offers its annual Thanksgiving meal that draws more than 900 people to the convention center.

The community’s churches, though, assist their fellow man with help not only during the holiday season but also during the year. During the year, we also thank those for donating to the Fallon Daily Bread program, which provides hot meals during the week.

Likewise, the American Legion Post 16 and its many volunteers from the community and Naval Air Station Fallon packaged and delivered 110 meals to assist the William N. Pennington Life Center’s Meals on Wheels program. In less than a week, the American Legion and volunteers will deliver meals on Christmas day.

Afterward, the American Legion provided meals to anyone from the community.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1002 hosts holiday meals for its members and veterans who may have nowhere to go during the Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas holiday.

The community also rallied around the VFW this fall by donating gift cards to the many student winners of the Patriot’s Pen essay contest and the Voice of Democracy speech/essay contest.

The city of Fallon kicked off the Christmas season with the annual tree lighting on Maine Street and open house at both City Hall and the Douglass House. Every tree lighting gives families an opportunity to come downtown, watch the lighting and allow the children to sit on Santa’s lap and give him their wish list.

This year, a spectacular fireworks show after the tree lighting, definitely lit the way for Santa to find Fallon.

Organizations such as the Masonic Lodge handed out free cocoa and cookies.

Numerous craft fairs sold a wide range of items with proceeds earmarked for community activities or scholarships.

The city sponsored its annual Comstock Cowboys Christmas show with two performances on Sunday with proceeds going to the Mayor’s Youth Fund.

Fallon can also be proud of the community endeavor to collect and distribute toys for families. Many children receiving toys come from one-parent families.

The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program is handing out toys this week. Businesses assisted by displaying special boxes for people to drop off toys. The Marine Corps League High Desert Detachment for Toys for Tots has been working since the summer months to make people aware of their mission and how they bring additional smiles to children for Christmas.

The Churchill County Social Services and the Independent Telephone Pioneer Association 3101 Churchill County support the annual Wishing Tree program to ensure every needy child received toys.

Social Services, along with many other groups, also sponsors a Family Day during the summer to give away items for the new school year and information on how to make people’s lives better.

Fallon Ford Toyota donated $50 for each car sold from March-December toward one of 15 organizations on its list. The Pay It Forward program generated almost $50,000 in local donations and during the lifespan of the program, Fallon Ford Toyota has given away almost a quarter million dollars.

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