Soldier's Wish List Group Collecting Hygiene Items for Troops

A cookie-baking group started by an O'Fallon woman is answering a call for personal-care items for soldiers in Iraq.

Cookies from the Heart, a group founded and organized by O'Fallon resident Mary Powers is working to answer another request from soldiers stationed in Iraq. The group, which is associated with A Soldier's Wish List (ASWL), has been baking, packaging and shipping cookies to servicemen and women oversees. READ MORE: O'Fallon Woman's New Group Bakes Cookies for Soldiers Powers saw a request from a soldier who had recently returned from Iraq asking for hygiene items for soldiers still stationed there. "We still have 500 troops located in Iraq," Powers said in an email. "Three of their (post exchange) locations in Iraq are being shut down by our government due to budget cuts, and now they have no where to go for hygiene items." Powers is …

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Donations Needed for Assumption Trivia Night in April

Trivia Night is set for Saturday, April 20.

Bank of America Gives Back During the Holidays

Employees company-wide have given back to the St. Louis community by donating their time to organizations for the last 20 years.

Bank of America doesn’t just hire great employees—but dedicated volunteers. For 20 years, employees company-wide have given back to the St. Louis community by donating their time to organizations like Variety, Habitat for Humanity, St. Patrick Center, St. Louis Area Food Bank and many others. “We really promote giving back to the community and we focus on strategic volunteerism,” Bank of America spokeswoman Michelle Tucker said. “Because Bank of America has the infrastructure to support giving back, employees make decisions of what’s most meaningful.” To help support these efforts, the bank offers employees up to two hours per week paid time off to volunteer. This holiday season employees coordinated several large programs that are near-…

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Donate to O'Fallon Giving Tree, Cornucopia of Care

Both the clothing and food drive run until Dec. 15.

The City of O'Fallon is hosting two holiday drives to help families in need this holiday season.  The annual "Giving Tree" drive runs from now until Dec. 15. Residents are invited to bring new winter hats, gloves, mittens, scarves and socks to decorate the tree in the lobby of City Hall. The items will be donated to the Salvation Army. O'Fallon residents can also give back this holiday season by donating to the annual "Cornucopia of Care" food drive. The drive began Monday, Nov. 5, and continues through Saturday, Dec. 15. Non-perishable canned or boxed food and personal care items are needed. Click here for more information.  Items may be dropped off at the following sites: Donations also are welcome at the following events:

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Bring Canned Goods to Qdoba and Receive Free Queso Dip This Week

All items collected from now until Sunday, Nov. 18 will be donated to the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Qdoba Mexican Grill is once again hosting "Cans for Queso," a food drive to help support the St. Louis Area Foodbank this Thanksgiving season.  The St. Louis Area Foodbank is the Bi-State region’s largest non-profit 501(c)(3) food distribution center dedicated to feeding those in need.  From now until Sunday, Nov. 18, customers who bring canned goods or other non-perishable food items to any St. Louis-area Qdoba will receive a free order of 3-Cheese Queso and handmade tortilla chips.  All items collected will be donated to the St. Louis Area Foodbank. Frank Finnegan, president and CEO of the St. Louis Area Foodbank said in a news release that in 2011, Qdoba patrons donated 3,399 pounds of food to help fight hunger in the St. Louis area. …

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Donate Supplies this Weekend for Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort

Items will be loaded into two 53-foot trucks and driven to New Jersey.

A marketing agency, St. Louis officials and the American Red Cross have organized an effort to help victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Called #STLforSandy, the group will collect items at several locations Saturday and then load them into two donated trucks that will be driven to New Jersey on Sunday, according to a press release from Switch.  Drop off items before the Veteran's Parade in St. Louis on Saturday between 8 a.m. and noon in front of Soldier's Memorial, 1315 Chestnut Street, St. Louis, or at all 30 St. Louis Fire Stations.  You can also drop off items at Kirkwood Commons in front of Walmart, 1202 South Kirkwood Road Kirkwood, MO 63122 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. List of items needed includes: Monetary donations are accepted by American Red…

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O'Fallon Food Pantry Receives Donations From Vacation Bible School

Hope Food Pantry and Wings of Hope benefited from the hard work of children at Dardenne Presbyterian Church.

Children in the vacation bible school program at Dardenne Presbyterian Church collected more than 1,000 canned goods to go to a local food pantry. The 400 children in the program attended vacation bible school during the last week of June. The food collection is an annual event for the program. The canned food and other food items were distributed to Hope Food Pantry, located at 206 E. Elm St. in O'Fallon. In addition, the children collected more than $1,400 to help support of Wings of Hope, a Chesterfield-based international nonprofit organization that helps provide health services and other resources to poverty-stricken areas all over the world. Dardenne Presbyterian Church is located at 7400 Highway N in Dardenne Prairie.

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Austin's Angels Helps Local 5-Year-Old With Brain Tumor

Austin's Angels will be outside of O'Fallon's Walmart on Friday selling T-shirts and stickers to benefit children with Anaplastic Ependymoma.

A local family is working together to help a 5-year-old Cottleville boy who suffers from a brain tumor. Austin Burns was diagnosed with Anaplastic Ependymoma, a grade three tumor, just after his first birthday. He is now under hospice care and attends SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center for occupational and speech therapy. "There's only one person who can stop this, and that's God himself," Austin's uncle, Randy Dean, said as he stood outside of O'Fallon's Walmart on Highway K Thursday afternoon.  Dean said the family started Austin's Angels three months ago in hopes the donations will help him and other families in the same type of situation. The group's tent outside of Walmart offers Austin's Angels T-Shirts and baseball hats …

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Cornucopia of Care Food Drive Ends Saturday

The city's annual food drive collects canned and boxed goods to feed local families in need during the holidays.

If you're looking for a way to give back for the holidays, there's still time to donate to the City of O'Fallon's Cornucopia of Care food drive.  O'Fallon Volunteer Services sponsors the drive, collecting both non-perishable food and personal care items, including toilet paper, toothpaste, soap and diapers.   Cornucopia of Care was started to help local pantries meet the needs of local families seeking assistance during the holiday season.  The collection which began on Nov. 6 ends on Saturday, Dec. 17.  For more information, call 636-379-5507 or email volunteer@ofallon.mo.us.   

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Local Troops Receive Holiday Surprise Overseas

Gifts collected from a St. Louis-area Support Our Troops Drive brought smiles to the faces of soldiers of the Missouri Army National Guard's 3175th Chemical Company.

Presents came early this holiday season for a group of soldiers stationed overseas thanks to Kirkwood's Majic Market and a St. Louis-area non-profit. The deli and convenience store served as a drop-off location for a Support Our Troops drive for the men and women of the Missouri Army National Guard's 3175th Chemical Company based at Jefferson Barracks. The drive was headed by All About Paws Rescue. (See: Kirkwood Market Sends 'Majic' Overseas) Members of the company, who are stationed in Qatar as part of a year-long base security mission, recently received gifts from the drive and a reminder of how they are supported back home. Click the video to watch their reaction as they unwrap the holiday goodies. Like Majic Market and All About Paws …

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