COLUMBUS, Ind. — Saturday’s distribution of Christmas boxes to more than 1,000 local children from the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund will look a little different than past years.
It will be the first time that the new permanent Cheer Fund headquarters, located north of the Evolution Training Center, 2670 Verhulst St., will be used for deliveries.
Cheer Fund volunteers rely on community residents to help them with deliveries, and that will continue, with precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Signs will be posted along both Middle Road and Andrews Sreet in the Columbus Air Park to direct drivers to where they need to be when deliveries begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, said Cheer Fund co-chairman Ben Noblitt.
At the same time, rural fire departments will be delivering Cheer Fund gift boxes that they picked up on Friday for children in their area.
In addition to that change, the pandemic also means that the donuts and hot chocolate normally distributed won’t happen this year. Everyone in the process, from firefighters to delivery volunteers, is asked to bring and wear masks, Noblitt said.
The Cheer Fund is also limiting the number of family members that firefighters bring in to help load up cars and trucks, Noblitt said.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
