Rockbridge Christmas Baskets is an organization that works with community partners during the holidays to help households that face financial challenges put food on the table and provide gifts for their children. Packing will take place at the Virginia Horse Center starting Saturday, Dec. 12 (skipping Sunday, Dec. 13) and going through the following Saturday, Dec. 19. Hours of participation are from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.. Communications chair of Rockbridge Christmas Baskets Jennifer Andrews has been working diligently throughout the fall with the rest of the organization.

“As Communications chair, I work to raise the profile of RCB using all sorts of vehicles: social media, radio, local news, and newspapers,” said Andrews. “ I try to spotlight the different community partners that help us achieve our mission: food suppliers, toy vendors, service organizations. There are so many moving parts (and people) involved in our program every year. This year, I designed a Christmas card that also asks people to consider making a gift  to support our efforts. The motto is “Thinking Inside the Box.”’

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the organization of the basket-packing event will be slightly different. Ordinarily, there is a packing day in which hundreds of people gather to help pack over 1,800 boxes in four hours. Because of the pandemic, this event will be spread out over the course of a week. Volunteers will sign up and be assigned a specific time slot that will have a specific number of volunteers for  assigned jobs. There will be teams at the door checking temperatures, teams sanitizing work stations, delivery teams coming at specific times to safely pick up and drop off boxes, and a no-exceptions face-covering rule for every individual. 

“With COVID-19, you cannot guarantee everyone’s safety, but you can drastically reduce the risk with time-tested protocols endorsed by the Virginia Health Department,” said Andrews. “I think it speaks volumes that the people involved with RCB see this challenging time as a reason to step up and work even harder on helping our neighbors in need. I am excited to be involved with something that expresses human kindness like this. RCB is 100% volunteer run and independent of any other organization, and when you have an operation like this, and it has lasted so long, it feels great to help such a positive tradition continue.”