For Thanksgiving, ACCA contributes 478 food boxes

HELPING HAND: Anderson Cottonwood Christian Assistance provided 478 boxes of food containing fixings for Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. Here, Pastor Darby Anderson of The Way helps South County resident Crystal Allen with her box of food.

Volunteers with South County's largest non-profit assistance agency, Anderson Cottonwood Christian Assistance (ACCA), helped distribute 478 boxes of food to provide Thanksgiving dinners to South County residents on Friday at the Sacred Heart Church gymnasium in Anderson.

"This helps out a lot, we could definitely use it" Crystal Allen said, carrying her daughter Justine while a volunteer helped her to her car with a box of food.

Allen said she lost her job two years ago and has been living with her parents.

"It's awesome they do this for people on the holidays. It's greatly appreciated," Christy Girard said.

Because of overwhelming need this year, ACCA clients had to choose between receiving assistance for Thanksgiving or for Christmas. The food bank tapped into its supply of holiday food over the last two months, ACCA Client Services Director Barbara Thurman said.

The food bank fed 2,000 people in October, doubling the number of people served in October of 2008, Thurman said.

"People who used to donate are now coming in for assistance," she said.

The ACCA is seeing 'need' more widely distributed than ever, Thurman said. People on disability insurance are getting less money per month, medical bills are destroying some family's budgets, and the housing foreclosure crisis is still hurting families, she said.

Thurman reported an increase in seeing people move from "a home to an apartment to a motel to a car ... It can happen to any of us."

This year, South County will rely on the ACCA for some form of assistance 18,000 times, almost 2,500 more than in 2008. Beyond providing assistance with food stuffs from the food bank, the ACCA also provides diapers and formula and personal hygiene products.

"There isn't a wrong item," Thurman said, before excepting potato chips and snack items.

Food, hygiene products, toilet paper, formula and diapers are all needed, she said.

The ACCA serves people from Anderson, Cottonwood, Happy Valley, Oak Run area, northern Tehema County and Shingletown.