City of Powell employees at the Blair’s loading dock were scratching their heads Wednesday before sunrise. More than a dozen volunteers were there to load the annual Christmas basket program food for distribution later in the day.

They came prepared with a larger truck than usual. Almost everybody anticipated greater need this year because of the financial repercussions of the pandemic. Volunteers organizing the program had allotted 15% more funds, thinking this would be a bad year for families in the Powell area.

But when the volunteer city workers arrived for what usually takes a half-hour to load at the docks, they were surprised to see but a few pallets of boxes containing the holiday meal packages.

“We’re down about 30%” Jan Cronin said Wednesday morning, as the food was being delivered to Heart Mountain Hall at the Park County Fairgrounds.

She and her husband, Terry, speculated that when the annual free Thanksgiving meal was canceled earlier this fall, fewer people were contacted about turning in applications for the Christmas assistance program. There have also been other groups donating food to those in need this year, including additional donations at the commodities distribution through the American Legion and food distributed by the Kringle House volunteer group.

The Cronins were left scratching their heads as well. “We advertised it in the paper and sent out notices to area businesses that help us get the word out,” Terry said.

Only 75 families signed up this year. More than 120 received the Christmas baskets and Toys for Tots donations last year and they had expected about 150 to apply this year. They even extended the deadline and made additional calls trying to ensure everyone would have an opportunity to get an application in.

There was extra money left over after making all the food purchases, so the volunteers had a meeting and decided to help with families’ utility bills.

“I called every single person that I could get ahold of, trying to help,” Terry said. “Some people were crying when we called. They’d say things like ‘Oh, that is so awesome. They were gonna shut me off on the 28th.’”

Wednesday morning, the Cronins found themselves alone in the fairgrounds hall by 7:30 a.m. and feeling thankful. They stood there, surrounded by packages of toys and boxes of food. Everything was done until the distribution started at 1 p.m. The packages were to be loaded at the curb to encourage social distancing, protecting both volunteers and recipients.

“People in this community are really generous. Even during the bad times, the money just keeps coming in,” Terry Cronin said.