OTHELLO - It's become a tradition in Othello, just like kids getting a picture with Santa, and clubs, businesses, churches and individuals all over town are getting ready.

The youth group from the Othello Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints collected food on Wednesday night. The kids at McFarland Middle School are in the middle of their food drive. Teachers and staff from all around the Othello School District will play a benefit basketball tournament, the "Christmas Basket Challenge," Dec 17.

The firemen held a fundraising breakfast for the Othello Community Christmas Basket program. Lindsay Gatewood, the granddaughter of Richard Johnson, one of the accidental founders of the program, sponsored a fundraising spaghetti dinner in his memory.

Non-perishable food is starting to fill the shelves at the Othello Fire Department. Toys are starting to roll in too. All the donations will be sorted, boxed and distributed to families throughout the Othello area for Christmas.

In 2013 Christmas baskets were delivered to 317 families, said Merritt Johnson, who's also a founder and is still on the organizing committee. Johnson and a few volunteers were down at the fire station Thursday morning, organizing the donations. The boxes are packed and delivered the Saturday before Christmas, which in 2014 will be Dec. 20.

The baskets are filled with canned food, flour and sugar, potatoes, apples and oranges, toys, mittens and hats, blankets, and whatever else people have donated. Baskets are distributed through a referral process, Johnson said, with one basket per family.

It all started with a conversation just before Christmas 1976. "Six guys down at the Eagles Lodge," Johnson said. "And we knew of some families that needed help," so they contributed $20 each toward the purchase of some food, he said. The effort grew from there and kept growing, involving a number of service clubs. Eventually it got so big it overwhelmed the sponsoring clubs, so the organizers established a nonprofit agency, Johnson said.

Most of Othello gets involved, Johnson said in an earlier interview. Businesses sponsor food and toy drives, organizations donate mittens and hats, individuals and businesses donate money.

Volunteers organize the donations, just to make it easier when the Saturday before Christmas rolls around. The fire department makes breakfast for the volunteer crew, and then the sorting of food and wrapping of Christmas presents begins.

A lot of volunteers both pack and deliver the baskets. "We've had cars lined up out this back door, clear down the side street," said Gary Simpson, who was among the volunteers sorting the donations.

Donations are being accepted through Dec. 19. The Christmas basket fund has accounts at the Othello branches of U.S. Bank and Columbia Bank, Johnson said. Checks should be made payable to the Christmas basket fund. People who want to donate money or food can contact Johnson, 509-488-2471, Tom Dennison, 509-331-3714 or Johnson's Glass, 509-488-5088.