MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Hedy Montoya was knee deep in donated food provisions one day in November at the United Methodist Church in Middletown as a concentrated line of economically challenged, but good-natured, people came in to register and receive the sustenance that was there for them.
By the time all of them – including more than 100 families – had filled boxes provided to them, 2,200 pounds of food had been dispensed.
It was a scene that occurs monthly on Monday in Middletown and Kelseyville. Montoya has no immediate connection to this program; she was there to register families and individuals for “Spirit of the Season.”
Over the past 10 years, Montoya has had a commitment to a “Spirit of the Season,” or “SOS” as it has come to be known.
SOS is a Christmas program that provides boxes of food, a turkey with all the fixings, a gift for each child and a Christmas meal for all registrants.
This year the food and gifts distribution will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 21, at the First Baptist Church on Highway 175 in Middletown.
The program has actually been going on for 40 years and presently serves approximately 500 people, including 175 families. Montoya serves as its coordinator.
“It started out at Our Lady of the Lake (in Loch Lomond),” says Montoya. “Ten years ago it moved here to the Methodist Church and I stepped in when the woman who was running it became ill.”
SOS is a massive undertaking that requires the industriousness of 25 volunteers to aid in the registration process, data processing, giving gifts to children, shopping, securing food and putting it into boxes.
The volunteers put up “wish trees” for the children on Monday in Middletown. SOS also calls upon the good will and generosity of businesses, service groups, churches and community members each year, who register and go to local stores to purchase the children's gifts, which will be picked up by runners.
“We partner with the Middletown Community United Methodist Church, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and the First Baptist Church with most of the volunteers coming from these faith communities,” Montoya said.
“Without the donations of the community and the volunteers Spirit of the Season would cease to help the families that are vulnerable at Christmas,” she added.
Montoya coordinates all this for those in need, she said, because she, herself, was once in need.
“I was there once. About 14 years ago,” she said, gesturing toward the line at United Methodist. “I lost my first husband and my father had just passed away. I was in a business I had run for 10 years that went bankrupt. I ended up literally on the street with $261 in my pocket. I was not homeless because I lived in my mother's house for a while.
“I do what I do because there are people who need to be helped,” she said. “Each family is in serious need. And the children deserve this at Christmas.”
The wishes of children the group collects are then transferred to the “wish trees” that go up around Middletown.
SOS's genesis “grew out of a desire to make sure that everyone had a Christmas meal and a gift for a child,” Montoya said in a letter to potential donors.
Gifts can be dropped off at the Tri Counties and West America banks in Middletown, St. Joseph's Church and Mulligan's in Hidden Valley Lake. Gift purchasers can learn what the children hope for at Christmas by purchasing a card from the wish tree at any one of these locations.
Clover Dairy annually contributes and delivers milk and butter for all the economically disadvantaged people registered in SOS. Volunteers will pick up frozen turkeys and pies from Foods, Etc. in Clearlake and frozen turkeys from Hardester's Market in Middletown.
Many of the families need what SOS provides because they are seasonal workers. Montoya recalled one family that had 12 children, six of them adopted.
But the need for assistance can happen to almost anyone.
“Migrants have a hard time,” she said. “It's kind of mellowed out now, but times are challenging. I have seen people who donated one year on the other side of the line in the next.”
Donations are still being sought by SOS. Donations are tax-deductible and can be sent to Spirit of the Season, P. O. Box 1468, Middletown, 95461, and should be made by Dec. 13. Any questions can be directed to Montoya at 707-322-5080.
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .