Needy families who reside in South Morgan County will get a helping hand at Christmas time thanks to the generosity of Falkville’s Lions and many other community volunteers.

The town’s Christmas program will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the fire department.

Each child between the ages of 0 and 13 will receive an age-appropriate wrapped gift  and their families will receive a box of fruit, canned goods, a canned ham and a Bible.

In past years, 50 or more families and twice that number of children have benefited from the community-based project.

“We expect to help as many or more families than we have in the past,” said Billy Bryan, a Lions club member. “Fortunately, we’ve gotten a lot of help from different organizations and individuals and we should be in good shape as far and meeting families’ needs is concerned,

He said funding for the event comes from local churches, the VFW and Falkville schools.

“Students contributed more than 2,500 cans of non-perishable food items through their schools,” He added, “and toys have been donated by patrons of the Falkville auction throughout the year.”

Her said the Falkville High Student Council would help wrap gifts on Friday and members of Falkville High’s FFA chapter will assist in the distribution of food and gifts on Saturday.