The holidays are a time to spend with family and friends, and others who are near and dear to you. The Tillamook community is a part of our TCCA family, and we invite you to spend time with us at the Tillamook Creamery celebrating this special time of the year. We are hosting festive events that are sure to be fun for folks of all ages.
2nd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony – Saturday November 23rd
The Tillamook Creamery tree will officially light up for the holiday season on Saturday, Nov. 23. Enjoy a festive afternoon with live holiday music with the Neah-Kah-Nie High School choir and band; cookie decorating; free hot chocolate and cider; photos with Santa; and enjoy 10 percent off all merchandise at our Tillamook Creamery gift shop during the event. The festivities are 4 p.m. – 7 p.m., with the tree illumination at 6 p.m.
TCCA Sponsors Schooner Thanksgiving Fundraiser
TCCA will continue its support of the Thanksgiving fundraiser dinner at The Schooner with a donation of $5000 to encourage additional community support. TCCA has sponsored the fundraising dinner for several years. All the proceeds benefit the Oregon Food Bank Tillamook County Services, which is an organization with a mission that is close to our heart, as it was for Tommy Flood Jr. TCCA believes that everyone should have access to real, nutritious food, and the Oregon Food Bank network strives to resolve the root cause of food insecurity within Tillamook County and across Oregon.
“Tommy Flood Jr., who passed away suddenly at the beginning of this year, started this fundraiser over 10 years ago. The event started by raising a couple of hundred dollars and has grown to over $26,000 last year. Tommy greatly attributed this level of growth to the commitment that Patrick Criteser, TCCA’s president and CEO, made several years ago, for the Creamery to provide funds to inspire others to give. The Schooner team is determined to continue this event to honor Tommy’s memory, as fighting hunger in Tillamook County was a very personal and important cause for him. These funds allow our [Oregon Food Bank] team to be responsive and nimble in improving our programs to better meet the needs of our community. For every $1 raised, 10 meals are provided for the community.” – Melissa Carlson-Swanson, branch services manager, Oregon Food Bank Tillamook County Services
Turkey and Ham Donations
TCCA is once again donating turkeys and hams to the Oregon Food Bank Tillamook County Services for their Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes. This year, TCCA will donate 300 turkeys and 100 hams. The idea for this annual opportunity was generated in 2013, when the Oregon Food Bank Tillamook County Services was running low on turkeys for the holiday meal boxes provided to families in need across Tillamook County. TCCA was happy to answer the call and challenged its employees with a Turkey Drive. That first year, grocery store gift cards, cash and even frozen turkeys were donated to the drive. Additionally, for each turkey donated by an employee that year, TCCA matched it. This donation opportunity has evolved from a Turkey Drive since that first year, yet it still ensures the Oregon Food Bank Tillamook County Services has a reliable source of protein for its holiday meal boxes.
Toy and Gift Drives
TCCA employees have a tradition of working together to help support families in need within our communities. Across all three of our locations in Tillamook, Boardman and Portland, TCCA reaches out to those in need during the holidays to help make the season a little bit brighter. Our employees rally together and participate in various internal holiday giving campaigns to benefit their local communities.
For more than a decade, TCCA employees have sponsored families through local charitable organizations with holiday meal boxes and fulfilling toy requests. In 2014, we started a holiday toy drive, which benefits the Tillamook Fire Department’s Volunteer Firefighter Toy Drive. Since then, employees have donated more than 700 toys in Tillamook specifically, and nearly 1,000 toys across all three locations. We are gearing up now for our 7th annual Toy Drive!
Employees located in our Portland Outpost office enjoy shopping for fun toys to bring the magic of the holidays to children in the Portland-metro area. Toys donated by TCCA employees in Portland benefit the KGW Great Toy Drive.
Our Boardman location employees enjoy finding creative ways to support their local community through adopting families, holiday meal boxes and toy drives. This year, our Boardman employees opted for a different approach and will provide some much-needed gifts to foster children: warm coats. The TCCA Community Enrichment Committee is sponsoring a donation of warm coats, valued at approximately $3,000, for 100 foster children in Morrow and Umatilla counties through DHS Child Welfare. The coats will be delivered as Christmas gifts. Boardman location employees previously donated Christmas gifts to foster children. In 2018, they raised more than $800, allowing them to fulfill every item on the wish lists of five foster children.
As a farmer-owned cooperative, TCCA is closely tied to our communities where we operate. We also take to heart the seventh cooperative principle, Concern for the Community. Each of these holiday giving opportunities is an example of TCCA’s dedication to our community enrichment work within Tillamook County and across Oregon. It is vital that for TCCA and the Tillamook brand to continue to grow nationally, that we remain committed to ensuring our communities are healthy, vibrant and resilient.
MORE HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS …
Breakfast with Santa
Don’t miss an opportunity to share your Christmas wish with Santa during Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 8 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. A special holiday breakfast menu will be served in the Tillamook Creamery Food Hall, which will include French Toast specials!
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