The White Doves Holiday Project honored and entertained volunteers, families and sponsors during the project’s annual grand opening event.

The festivities, held Nov. 30 at the Martin County Fairgrounds, marked the official opening of the White Doves “warehouse,” where food and toys are gathered to serve more than a thousand families.

During the event, which was co-sponsored by Seacoast National Bank and Gulfstream Aluminum & Shutter, White Doves recognized several longtime community partners:

• Armellini Express Lines, for annually providing a refrigerated truck to store hams and turkeys and another truck to transport toys and food from the fairgrounds to the Indiantown distribution point at Hope Rural School.

• The Boy Scouts of America, for conducting the Scouting for Food drive and bringing in tons of food each year to feed White Doves families.

• The Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots drive, which provides dozens of bikes and thousands of toys for about 3,000 Martin County children each year.

• W&W Lumber, for providing the wood to build the tables that hold all those toys.

Several special guests were introduced, including Joe Celli, who co-founded White Doves 18 years ago.

Also on hand were representatives from the Palm Cove community, who held a fund-raising luncheon for White Doves.

A young resident of that community, 18-year-old Michael Alexander, was applauded for his efforts in coordinating a neighborhood food drive for the past four years.

The entertainment for the grand opening was provided by the chorus and drama club from Warfield Elementary School. The youngsters delighted the audience of about 80 people with a short holiday musical.

Then, Santa Claus arrived in an antique fire engine, thanks to Martin County Fire-Rescue. He patiently listened to all the children’s wishes and handed out gift bags to all of them.

“White Doves relies on so many groups and individuals,” said project coordinator Anne Lalley. “Everyone can find a role in some facet of the project, and the grand opening is just one way we can show the public how much is involved.”

ABOUT WHITE DOVES

The White Doves Holiday Project serves as a central clearinghouse for donated food and toys at holiday time. The massive undertaking is a project of Martin Volunteers and pools the resources of dozens of volunteers, community groups, agencies, families, businesses and faith-based and civic organizations.

Martin Volunteers, formerly known as the Volunteer & Community Resource Center (VCRC), is a program of United Way of Martin County.

White Doves Holiday Project is expecting to serve about 1,100 Martin County families this year. Depending on amount of donations that White Doves receives, families get to choose two to four toys per child and receive the staples for a holiday meal, and a turkey or ham.

Donations of food, toys, holiday decorations and money can be dropped off at the White Doves warehouse, Building B at the Martin County Fairgrounds, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, through Dec. 19.

Anyone wishing to make a monetary donation may send it to White Doves Holiday Project, PO Box 362, Stuart, FL 34995.

More information is available at www.martinvolunteers.org/whitedoves or by calling (772) 220-4472.