Most of the volunteers who helped assemble 131 food boxes Saturday morning, December 22, included (standing, from left) Kevin Paquin, Bernard Paquin, Jason McCall, Dawn Nelson, Alan Nelson, Alice and James Taylor, Tom St. Andrew, Louis Conguy, Dale Nelson, Mike Singleton, Bob St. Andrew, Ken Hardy, Roger Childers, Josh Zike, Louis Leveille; (kneeling in front), Don Moore and Steve Campbell. Volunteers included Moose Lodge 999 members and United States Coast Guard servicemen, and their friends and relatives. Other volunteers involved in the project but not pictured include Francis Bellant, Gerry and Darrin Brow, Michael Desormeaux, John Ellis, Mike Henderson, Roger Horn, Jim Kelly, Anita Marshall, and Brandon Underwood. Before the sun rose, while many were still in bed Saturday morning, December 22, members of Moose Lodge 999 arrived at Glen's Market in St. Ignace to prepare food for distribution to area families. They were met by members of the United States Coast Guard cutter Biscayne Bay detachment at the back of the store, where the volunteers spent the next hour assembling 131 boxes of food. As soon as the boxes were made up, volunteers took them away to families in St. Ignace, Moran Township, Hessel, Cedarville, and Paradise, just in time for the Christmas holiday.

Boxes were packed with components of a holiday meal, including a turkey, a bag of fresh apples, stuffing mix, canned vegetables and fruit, bags of potatoes, onions, and other fresh vegetables, bread, and eggs.

Lodge members have organized this charitable activity for the past 25 years, providing holiday meals to thousands of people who could otherwise not afford to buy the food. Over the years, other St. Ignace area organizations, businesses, and individuals have pitched in by donating money to the program so the Moose Lodge can purchase enough food. Glen's Market helps by offering the Moose Lodge a discount on the food purchases.

This year, donations and assistance came from the Women of the Moose Lodge Chapter 1484, St. Ignace Lions Club, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Masonic Lodge 369 of St. Ignace, St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church of St. Ignace, and local businesses, Mackinac Sales, Gifts Galore, Mackinac Straits Veterinary Clinic, First National Bank of St. Ignace, U.P. State Credit Union, Lakefront Electronics, Art Huskey and Sons, Brown and Brown law offices, and Waste Management.

Each year Moose Lodge members compile a list of needy people, and the Department of Human Services in St. Ignace also refers some people.

Dale Hess of Glen's Market helped coordinate the assembly of boxes and let the volunteers use the back of the store to put the meals together.

Moose Lodge members Ken Hardy and Roger Childers co-chair the Christmas Food Box operation, which is one of the lodge's annual community service projects. Mike Henderson, Moose Lodge administrator, gathered donations from the community through a letter writing campaign.

Following the holiday meal box distribution, the Moose Lodge donated leftover food to the St. Ignace Food Pantry Wednesday, December 26.