Instead of sleigh bells jingling, sirens blared across Polson last Wednesday night as firetrucks led the 12th annual food and coat drive through town.

According to organizer Brent Bowman, the event was originally launched by the Mormon Church as a service project for youngsters “so they could feel a better sense of service to the community during the Christmas holiday.”

That first year, they donated around 600 pounds of food to Loaves and Fish Food Pantry. Last year, they gathered 9,300 pounds of food, and this year they’ve rounded up close to 9,500 pounds – well on their way to collecting 10,000 pounds by Christmas Eve, one grocery bag at a time.

Since its inception, the project has evolved to include around 200 volunteers and a host of first responders. The process begins in early December with advertisements spreading the word about the upcoming food and coat drive. Then, in mid-December, the troops assemble. 

On Tuesday, volunteers spread out across town, hanging green grocery bags on door knobs, each bearing a flier announcing Wednesday’s food and coat drive. On Wednesday night, volunteers assemble at the Mormon Church for instructions before dispersing to cover five key regions across town.

Polson Fire Department contributes three fire engines and Polson Rural provides two, each with crews; the Polson Police Department sends three cruisers, while the Lake County Sheriff supplies two.

Meanwhile, volunteers construct five “Santa sleighs” – decorated trailers pulled by trucks and staffed with Mr. Claus (or his surrogate).

As the entourage traipses through town – led by the fire engines and cruisers – a crew of volunteers trails the Santa sleighs on foot, prepared to dash up to front doors and porches and collect the bags of groceries and clothing that residents have left.

After they’ve covered the neighborhoods, the collection crews converge at Loaves and Fish for what Bowman calls the “big weigh-in.” Food bank workers help sort and weigh all the non-perishable goods. “We completely fill their warehouse space every year,” Bowman says.

Coats, clothes and winter gear are then taken to the church, where donations to Coats for Kids program are redistributed to Valley Bank, kids’ clothes and winter wear are packaged for local schools to hand out to students in need, and the remainder goes to Mission Mountain Empowerment’s thrift stores.

“We try to make sure 100 percent of the donations from the community stay in our community,” says Bowman.  

He adds that the whole enterprise “feels Christ-like, because virtually all of our food is gathered one bag at a time, with each individual doing a little bit to be our brother’s keeper.”

And after 12 years, “It’s just exploded into this community effort. People expect to see us and they’re ready for us.”

For those who weren’t quite ready last Wednesday, or live in outlying areas, there’s still time to help organizers reach the goal of 10,000 pounds by Christmas Eve by filling up a grocery bag with nonperishable items and leaving it at the drop-box in Super One. Coats for Kids donations may be left at any Valley Bank location.

After all, “That feeling of a community taking care of each other is not necessarily a Christian value,” says Bowman. “It’s a community value.”