MINOT — Selectman Eda Tripp told the board Monday that she is preparing Thanksgiving baskets for families in town who are facing hard times.

Tripp publicly thanked students at the Minot Consolidated School for the canned and boxed food items they brought to the school’s annual harvest festival. She said the donations, supplemented with some staples purchased with town funds, will go a long way to filling the baskets.

Noting that she would like to make deliveries in a timely manner, Tripp set  Saturday, Nov. 19, as the deadline for food and/or donations earmarked for Thanksgiving.

After that, she said she is going to focus her concerns on the winter holidays — and winter.

“The price of oil is starting off high. It’s already going to be hard for some and I don’t want to think what it could go to,” Tripp said.

The town does have a special account which Tripp, as the town’s general assistance manager, has been using the past few years to address some of the hardship folks have faced with oil and electric bills.

Funds in the account are down and Tripp said that, in light winter forecasts, she certainly would welcome any help building it up a bit.

“We can’t solve everything, but we try to help where we can,” Tripp said.

Checks can be made out to the Town of Minot, with a note that they are for the general assistance reserve donations account.

In other matters, town Treasurer Connie Taker announced that applications are now available at the town office for college students seeking grants through the Roland & Noella Hemond Scholarship and the Kurt Theriault Memorial Scholarship funds.

The deadline for submitting completed applications is Jan. 20, 2012.

Town Administrator Arlan Saunders reported that he is gearing up for the next budget cycle and that the proposed highway budget is complete but he is still gathering budgets from other town departments.