On Dec. 19, St. Petersburg Lodge’s team of volunteers spearheaded by Christmas food drive chairman, Mimi Reich, put together 300 Christmas dinner boxes valued at $11,724.40 that contained a complete Christmas dinner for a family of 4-6 members. In each box was a $20 gift card for a ham or turkey. The lodge used their $2,500 Gratitude Grant, $2,500 Beacon Grant and $2,000 Spotlight Grants from the Elks National Foundation plus lodge member donations of food and money. Toys that were donated by Florida Elks State Association and Walgreens were included in 22 of the boxes. Home Depot donated the boxes. The volunteers delivered nine boxes to Heaven on Earth for Veterans whose mission is to alleviate Pinellas County veteran homelessness by providing quality, low cost, safe living spaces. Six boxes went to families in need at Tyrone Middle School, 22 boxes went to single-parent homes with two to four kids each, and the remaining 263 boxes along with excess food went to the 38th Avenue Baptist church to be delivered through their indigent family care list.