GREENE – A monumental display of Christmas spirit will storm out of the gates Saturday, beginning at 7:30 a.m. from the Berean Bible Church when a multitude of volunteer Santas will spring into action delivering Greene Community Baskets to 107 families.

The church gym is currently packed with row upon row of tables withstanding the awesome weight of gigantic boxes filled with food, while bags of Christmas presents lay strewn across the floor, congesting the walkways, and choking the ground with their impressive bulk. The exhibition of good will is so stunning, it still inspires awe in even the most hardened of veteran volunteers.

“When I first walk into the gym every year and see everything laid out... well it almost brings me to tears,” said long time volunteer Darlene Harrington. “I don’t know what it is, it’s just amazing to see what other people will do for their neighbors.”

Starting in October, members of the Greene Rotary Club begin hanging up fliers around town asking for donations to a ‘community basket’ and to invite members of the community to adopt a family in need. Applications for families in need are available by the first week of November. Families list the things they would like for Christmas; their applications are then passed on to adoptees who have volunteered to mimic the ethos of old St. Nick, and the wish lists are filled.

Despite being dubbed ‘Greene Christmas Community Basket,’ there are no literal baskets involved. Instead the baskets take the form of sacks of wrapped presents and boxes of food. The food boxes are filled from donations taken out of collection barrels throughout Greene with the produce, ham, and turkey, bought by the Rotary Club with donated money from Great American. The canned goods collected by Greene Central School make up the backbone of the provisions.