How To Plan a Gift Drive

With the holiday season coming to an end, I was musing what I could post that would be helpful to someone else.  I decided upon "How to organize a gift drive", since we just finished with ours a few weeks ago.  This is very high level and will work for any organization, but you may have to adjust your schedule based on the size of your program.
By mid-October:
1.  Set a goal or limit on the number of children or families that you want to assist based upon your organization's size and financial ability to help.  Set criteria for those you are helping; for instance, we focus on those with an address in the city limits.
2.  Contact a local school counselor to assist you with getting names of families in need along with their addresses and phone numbers.  Be sure that you obey all rules regarding confidentiality of information.
3. Determine how you want to deliver the gifts to the families – do you want to take them to their house?  Do you want the children to see them? Do you want to have a dinner or a party and give them out there?  
4. If you are having a dinner or party, plan the menu.  Keep it simple and take in consideration the more prevalent food allergies such as peanuts and chocolate.

Recipes on the fly

It seems that I am always called upon to fix an old favorite recipe and I never have the instructions with me.  I thought that I would be clever and start recording any that I create that I actually want to repeat.  Unfortunately, these may not necessarily have measurements, like this one.

Giblet Gravy

Place giblets and other turkey or chicken parts in a pan and cover with water, add salt, and bring to boil.  Turn to low boil for about 30 minutes.  

In another pan, hard boil 3 eggs, peel and cut up in desired size; I chunk 'em.

Remove giblets from pan, reserve broth. Chop up giblets as desired; I only use the heart and the liver and dice them.   The gizzard is too tough to deal with!

Over low heat, Melt 1 stick of butter in the pan used to boil giblets and then add 1/2 c. flour to make a rue.  Slowly add the reserved broth into the rue, mixing to remove any lumps, until desired gravy consistency is achieved.  Add chopped eggs and giblets.   Add salt and pepper to taste.   Warm on low heat until ready to serve.