SALISBURY — Its been almost 70 years since the Boyden High School Class of 1955 graduated but the Lunch Bunch still gets together once a month to talk about the old times and the new.

As a way to give back to the community that it has been a part of for so long, the Lunch Bunch donated $316 through the Christmas Happiness Fund. The donation memorialized Joyce Leazer Yost who Barbara Wagoner said just recently died.

“She was a member of our class and also of the Lunch Bunch,” Wagoner said. “Until she became too ill to come she was a faithful member.”

The Lunch Bunch has been meeting at Il Colosseo Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria once a month.

“We have been meeting for a number of years,” Wagoner said. “Of course, we don’t have has many members as we once did, but we have been faithful meeting the first Monday of every month.

“We have all gotten closer since we graduated. There are still a number of the members that live in the Salisbury area. A few have lived outside and still come back to meet with us. It has been a real helpful thing. We are all basically in our 80s. We still enjoy talking and remembering and talking about our grandchildren and now, our great-grandchildren.”

During a recent meeting, nine Lunch Bunch members pooled what they could to contribute to the Christmas Happiness Fund.

“This is one thing we all appreciate it,” Wagoner said. “We appreciate this charity and all agree on. There are no ifs, ands or buts. This is what we do every Christmas.

“Its a very good cause and I am glad the Salisbury Post does it.”

Donations can be dropped off at the Salisbury Post offices at 131 W. Innes Street or by mail at Christmas Happiness Fund, c/o Salisbury Post, PO Box 4639, Salisbury, NC 28145.

The current running total for the Christmas Happiness Fund is $6,841.

Recent contributions include:

• In memory of Joe Hearne Rufty KIA Vietnam — $500
• In memory of Michael Leonard Daniel — $50
• In honor of our wonderful class teachers by Everyman’s Bible Class First Presbyterian Church — $500
• Charity League of Salisbury — $500
• In memory of Lucille, Fred and James Sifford by Joyce, Thomas, Anamarie, Sutton, Alexander and Seth Ervin — $100
• In memory of my beloved husband Jim Cody and my parents Carl and Ada Cavin Sharpe by Sandra Sharpe Cody — $100
• In honor of my daughters Julie, Kennedy and Bonnie Vitale by Carol Pomeroy — $100
• In memory of Ward and Helen Ratledge by George Ratledge — $150
• In honor of Jane White by Denny White — $500