Just before Christmas at 6:30 one morning, members of Fincastle’s Eastern Star Chapter, Botetourt No. 135, delivered ham biscuits, homemade banana bread, granola bars and other edible treats to the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office. Subsequent stops included the E-911 Dispatch Center and General District Court.

There was food enough for the incoming and outgoing shifts of deputies, office and jail staff, court security officers, 911 dispatch workers, District Court clerks and any state troopers who were at the jail or the court that morning.

The national leadership of the Eastern Star organization has an emphasis this year of support for law enforcement and first responders. The local breakfast project was part of that emphasis and meant to express appreciation for the efforts of those servants in the community.

Eastern Star Worthy Matron Trish Morris also presented challenge coins to Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle and Lt. Jeff Stritesky. The coins are also part of the national Eastern Star emphasis and proceeds from their sale generates financial support for first responders.

Thanks go to the Virginian Markette for a generous donation of biscuits, to Chick-Fil-A for a donation of milk shake coupons to include with the breakfast items, to Stritesky who helped coordinate the event and to the several Eastern Star members who helped prepare and deliver the food. They included Marsha Campbell, Dennis Harris, Dave Morris, Art Pendleton and Kerry Campbell.

The Order of the Eastern Star, dating back to the mid-1800s, is the largest fraternal and service organization in the world to which both women and men can belong.