Welcome to the month of October – it is hard to believe that we have moved into the fourth quarter of the year – looking directly at Thanksgiving and Christmas! Fall and early winter are always very busy times for Love Chapel. 

Plans are well under way for this year’s Christmas Feast Giveaway. Why such a strange name? It would be easier to call it a basket, but there is way too much for a basket. It would be easier to call it a dinner, but there is way more to it than that! That is why it is called a Christmas Feast Giveaway. This Feast Giveaway is in addition to a family’s normal pantry visits. 

This year the Feasts will be distributed at the main pantry –during normal pantry hours from December 2nd to December 23rd. No pre-registration will be required. Some families will get both their regular visit and the Christmas Feast on their same visit – some space the two separate visits out. 

The plan for this year is to prepare for 1,700 families – last year we gave out just over 1,600 Christmas Feasts. The cost for each Christmas Feast is approximately $80. The only requirement for eligibility is that a family must reside in Bartholomew County – any mail proving this is acceptable! 

Each basket will contain the following items: Cereal, Stuffing Mix, Brownie Mix, Potatoes, Hot Chocolate, 2 Canned Fruit, 6 Canned Vegetables, Peanut Butter, Granola Bars, Applesauce, 3 cans of Soup, Gravy, Jelly, Cooking Oil, Flour, Sugar, Ham, Frozen Bread and Eggs. 

So how does this happen? Various organizations and churches are signing up to provide either funds or product for the baskets. In addition, Love Chapel is ordering the food and the goal is to have everything but the ham and eggs turned in by the first of November, which is when the real work begins. 

Love Chapel organizes four packing days where all of the non-perishable items are packed – usually half of the 1,700 Feasts are packed before Thanksgiving, with supplemental packing occurring as needed throughout the three weeks of giveaway. Each packing session will usually be around 12 – 16 volunteers at each session, putting the products together in six different bags. 

Then during the distribution, a group of six people work each day the pantry is open to distribute the Christmas Feasts. They stock a cart with the six bags of products, add ham, eggs, and frozen rolls to the cart and take out to curbside to deliver. 

As in years past, we also will have opportunities to do the packing in advance of the distribution and will need daily volunteers throughout the distribution period – more information will be forthcoming on these opportunities. This allows a hands-on experience to use as an example for our young ones to see the need. 

To help support this worthy outreach, please visit our website at: Give to Love Chapel (givebutter.com) – click Help the Hungry and under notes, write Christmas Feasts!