December 29, 2021
Season of giving
Around Town St. Charles County leaders band together to collect donations for new behavioral health crisis center. Pg. 3 Tornado, severe storms cause $3.4 million in damages in St. Charles County. Pg.4
Business
CRG announces Chapter at the Streets apartments in Streets of St. Charles. Pg. 7
Features Submitted photo St. Charles County seniors proved that you are never too old to give as they participated in the St. Charles County Ambulance District’s Fill the Ambulance with Food initiative, which has become a tradition of the holiday season. This year, the seniors gathered a record-setting 9,500-pounds of food to be donated to Operation Food Search.
Local retirement communities set giving record in St. Charles County Ambulance District’s Fill the Ambulance with Food initiative By Brett Auten Blue, 40-gallon trash barrels were found among Christmas trees, menorahs, and plenty of green and red décor in retirement communities throughout St. Charles County this month. But these tubs were not for waste. They were filled to the brim with cans, boxes and bags of food for the St. Charles County Ambulance District’s Fill the Ambulance with Food initiative, which has become a ritual of the holiday season. Once the barrels were loaded and the donations logged, the tally reached a record-setting 9,500-pounds of nutritious food donations headed to Operation Food Search, whose representatives estimated
it will provide one full day of meals for 2,375 individuals. Kyle Gaines is the Communication Director for SCCAD. Gaines said the pride that seniors throughout our community take in this initiative is absolutely astonishing and that year after year, they make it an incredible success. “To put things in perspective, the 9,500 pounds of food collected this year is approximately the weight of an adult Asian elephant,” Gaines said. “I believe Fill the Ambulance resonates with our community’s seniors because many of these individuals experienced food instability firsthand as children in the post-Depression era.” “Fill the Ambulance” immediately resonat-
ed with retirees upon its inception, and over the course of more than a decade has amassed over 55,000-pounds of food that stays local to St. Charles County. Though the name suggests donations will be loaded into an advanced life support unit, support of the initiative long ago outgrew a single ambulance. Thankfully, partner pantries are armed with box trucks that will help donations find their way to shelves. “The excitement for ‘Fill the Ambulance’ begins very early,” Fairwinds River’s Edge General Manager Jim Ausmus said. “Residents begin asking around Halloween when we’re getting our blue barrels.” See ‘GIVING’ page 2
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