DAILY LEADER / NATHANIEL WEATHERSBY / Members of the Brookhaven Exchange Club brought together fruit and other items to pack bags for over 400 senior citizens in the area.

Thursday morning, members of the Brookhaven Exchange Club gathered to build fruit bags for senior citizens in the area who may find it harder than most to get into the Christmas spirit this year.

“We give out about 400 bags every year for Christmas,” Greg Hoff, who organized the packing and distributing event, said. “Many are widows and widowers whom Christmas is usually a hard time for.”

The senior citizens receiving bags were compiled from people that the members of the Exchange Club knows. With about 30 members, Hoff said each member delivers bags to anywhere from two or three to 20 citizens.

“They’re very appreciative,” Hoff said of the senior citizens who receive their bags each year. “I think we probably get more out of it than they do.”

Hoff said he doesn’t know how long the annual packing event has been going on, but he is sure it is over 30 years. The bags the Exchange Club packed include fruit like bananas and oranges, peppermints, nuts and a copy of the Christmas story. Hoff said the supplies were bought using money raised from the Exchange Club Park.

He said the money is also used for other community service projects, which includes scholarships, park upkeep, student of the month awards, Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven donations and the upcoming Golden Deeds Banquet. Hoff encourages people to mail nominations to P.O. Box 486. The exchange club will be excepting nominations from now until the first of the year.