Ilsa Minor | Daily Press Volunteers work to fill holiday baskets for veterans at the Ruth Butler Building on the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds Thursday. The event supplied hundreds of veterans with free food.

ESCANABA — The Community Foundation for Delta County has been distributing holiday food baskets to needy Delta County Veterans for years and collaborated with the Seventh Day Adventist Food Pantry this year to be able to serve more Delta County veterans with holiday food baskets.

“I was excited when the Community Foundation for Delta County called me regarding collaborating to help distribute veteran holiday food baskets. They have always showed how much they care about veterans, and the community in a whole, and I had no doubt this was going to be a great thing,” said Seventh-Day Adventist Church Adventist Community Services Food Pantry Director Robin Wycoff.

Because the two groups planned to serve over 500 Delta County veterans, it was a lot of planning and hard work but never was there any complaints.

More than 1,000 cars lined up at the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds, curling around the fairgrounds themselves and causing heavy traffic on Lincoln Road.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church Food Pantry and the Community Foundation for Delta County would like to thank all sponsors for this year’s Veterans Holiday Mobile Pantry, such as Adventist Community Services; Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights; Delta County Veterans Council; Enbridge; UPCAP, Soderman’s Meat Processing, Bill Weissert Insurance Agency, Thrivent Action Team Members, Chamber of Commerce – Ruth Butler Building and all of the volunteers.

The Seventh Day Adventist Food Pantry employees, volunteers, the Community Foundation for Delta County Board of Trustees and staff, wished all veterans and the community a happy, healthy, safe and enjoyable holiday season.

Anyone interested in supporting this or other Delta County programs is asked to contact the community foundation by calling 906-786-6654, emailing office@cfup.org, or stop in at 2420 1st Avenue South Escanaba, Michigan.