Kringle House brings in thousands of pounds of food for Loaves and Fishes

Meeteetse nativity raises hundreds of dollars for senior center

Posted 12/29/20

The Kringle House has helped fill the shelves at the area temporary emergency food assistance pantry.

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Kringle House brings in thousands of pounds of food for Loaves and Fishes

Meeteetse nativity raises hundreds of dollars for senior center

Posted

The Kringle House has helped fill the shelves at the area temporary emergency food assistance pantry.

“The Kringle House supplied enough food to carry [Powell Valley Loaves and Fishes] through June or July of 2021,” said Chris Pelletier, president elect of the club and mastermind behind the annual Christmas fair. “We had more than 1,300 people come through the doors. The group has already said they want to do it again next year. We’re already throwing out ideas on how to make it bigger and better.”

Pelletier said the coronavirus pandemic held many back from participating this year. People came to his office to donate food, saying they “just didn’t feel comfortable going out to something public like that, even though everybody was masked.”

He hopes to make his dream of supplying 10,000 pounds of food to Loaves and Fishes in 2021. This year, they were able to donate 5,000 pounds.

The Powell Rotary Club “just did an impressive job” with the holiday house at the Park County Fairgrounds’ Homesteader Hall, Pelletier said. “We had great support from our sponsors and the community really came out to help.”

Pelletier pointed to Rotarian Cindy Rose as instrumental in keeping the Kringle House moving in the right direction this year.

“She kept everything flowing just the way it should,” he said of Rose. “And she’s been instrumental in making this as good as it was.”

Another charity event also brought in needed donations this season. Despite it being her first attempt, Britt Whitt was able to raise hundreds of dollars for the Meeteetse Senior Center collecting donations at her live nativity scene west of the town. The display lasted through Christmas Eve and, while donations were not required, supporters chipped in $581.

Whitt provided hot chocolate to those attending and had help from her family through the event.

“Such a blessing for our community,” she said after enjoying Christmas with her family.

Friends tried to talk Whitt into running the display through the first of the year, but the mobile veterinarian’s duties take her to communities across the Big Horn Basin, and she had to get back on the road. She also raises five children with husband Hayes Randol.

“It kicked my [behind],” Whitt said of the nativity, “but the positive feedback and the enjoyment it seemed to bring to the Basin was worth it.”

Many in the community urged her to make the display a tradition. At first she laughed at the thought; the display was an attempt to bring joy to the area after a local church canceled its Christmas play. But then, Whitt said, “maybe.”

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