Greetings, friends! I hope you all have had a wonderful Fall.
It’s certainly been a great one for the Food Basket Ministry. On November 16, we packed 150 baskets which were delivered to WFCM this past Saturday. There they were combined with the 60 “Fresh Food Packs” we sponsored as part of the communitywide effort to help feed families in need this Thanksgiving. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their gifts of time, talents, and donations of food and funding that helped make this effort as a success!! We are now turning our sights toward the Christmas baskets that will be prepared on December 14. As noted below, we have several needs below in order to help reach this year’s goal of 550 Christmas baskets and another 60 Fresh Packs.
Sponsor a Basket or Fresh Pack
In response to a request from WFCM, we’ve done things a little differently this year—providing 150 baskets at Thanksgiving and 550 at Christmas. The Christmas Baskets will be the largest undertaking we’ve ever attempted, filled with nearly 13,000 individual food items. We are very close to reaching our goals for this year. If you haven’t already done so, please consider sponsoring a basket or a fresh food pack. You can utilize CUMC’s online giving page (available here) or place a check in the offering plate on Sunday morning (please write “Food Baskets” on the memo line). 100% of all donations go directly to this important ministry and are fully tax deductible.
Volunteers Needed for Multiple Events in December
As you probably guessed, the Christmas Baskets will the largest we’ve ever attempted, and multiple helping hands are needed to help make it a success. This will be an all-hands event, and we are currently requesting volunteers for the following events, all of which will be at CUMC:
Friday, December 13 (7 p.m.)—Box Making Party! We are looking for multiple volunteers to help us prepare the 550 boxes (baskets) that will be filled on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Saturday, December 14 (11 a.m.)—Set Up Crew. Volunteers are also need to help us prepare for basket packing, setting up tables, moving and organizing food, and other tasks.
Saturday, December 14 (12 p.m.)—Basket Packers. Help us pack 500 baskets, tape & stack completed baskets, etc.
Saturday, December 21 (7 a.m.)—On the 21st, we’ll be transporting the 550 baskets to WFCM in Chantilly for distribution later that morning. We are hoping to have multiple folks with multiple vehicles to caravan over to WFCM that morning.
To help with registering Volunteers, we’ve created a Sign Up Genius, which is available here. Please feel free to sign up for one or all events!
Transportation Help on 12/21
For the delivery of the baskets on 12/21, we are grateful for the support of C’s Haulin in Centreville for helping us transport the 550 baskets to WFCM. We are currently looking for a box truck or other large vehicle to help us with this effort. If you have access to one and are willing to help for an hour on the 21st, please email me at Chris.Granberg@gmail.com.
Thank you again for your support of this ministry!
Blessings & Peace
Chris Granberg
(202) 570-5768