Women in Timber have been putting Christmas baskets together for families in Mineral County for the past 40 years and even with unexpected obstacles, they will once again be delivered Saturday, Dec. 18 by Santa and a bunch of his elves recruited by the Superior LIONS.

Each basket will consist of food for a traditional Christmas dinner and a wrapped present for each child in the family. But the deadline to sign up is Monday, Dec. 6 and late applications will not be accepted.

The reason being is a shortage of volunteers as so much needs to be done by delivery date.

“It took six of us three days plus a cargo trailer to collect all food items and transport them to the 4-H building, trips to Missoula for food and gifts and countless hours of organizing EVERYTHING as each family is different,” said Kathy Verly, who is ram rodding her Women in Timber volunteers. “Our biggest problem was that Costco cancelled our turkey order that we placed last January.

"I called in August to confirm and at that time they informed me that there was a turkey shortage, and they would not be able to supply our 110 turkeys,” she said.

But the show must go on and help came fast and furious.

“Bless Chris Darlow's heart, he said he could only get 10 turkeys a week, so he started stockpiling them last August so we would have turkeys for the Christmas Baskets,” Verly said.

Steve Temple with the Superior LIONS twisted Chris’s arm a little more so instead of putting the baskets together at the 4-H building the evening before delivery, they will be assembled at Darlow’s Quality Foods saving endless trips as eventually, everything is stored there anyway for the mass delivery.

The Cabin Fever Quilting Guild will have wrapped all the presents when three Santa LION teams load pickups the morning of Saturday, Dec. 18 and deliver food baskets and gifts for children to the families in need of support through the holidays between Saltese and Alberton.

Application forms can be found at the Clerk and Recorders office in the Mineral County Courthouse or call 406-822-3523 for other locations that may be more convenient.

For those who would care to help, there are a couple of means in doing so. Money is the top need for the baskets as it takes cold hard cash to buy the food items and gifts for the children.

Donations are accepted through Women in Timber or the Superior LIONS. The other way to help is to volunteer and either organization can direct you to the most needed posts.

“You might even put a plug in for Women in Timber, asking for clean, nice donations for the store," Verly said. "That is how we generate several thousand dollars to match the Lions Club contribution for baskets and gifts. Ask folks to come check out the store and the nice clothes, housewares, furniture, etc. that we carry. And also ask them to shop local to support all the businesses in the county.”