During Advent, it is customary to have a calendar to count down the days while we wait for Christmas. To help count down the days, many advent calendars include a small gift every day as we patiently await the special day. With a Reverse Advent Calendar, we give something every day and place it in a box. At the end of the collection, all donated items will be given to local food pantries or those in need.
Last year’s collection was a huge success! We collected over three hundred items!! They were delivered to the Hockomock Area YMCA, which gave over five hundred bags a week to the local communities. The joy of giving and helping others was overwhelming, especially since we were still in partial lockdowns due to the pandemic. We truly showed that it is better to give than to receive!!
This year during our season of Advent, we are once again doing the Reverse Advent Calendar from November 28 – December 19. We have prepared a calendar with suggestions to put in your box each day and a list of many other items that you can choose from if you want to make your box more individual. Last year, we discovered that it would be nice to give items that are not always available at the food pantries including gluten-free foods, sugar-free foods, low sodium foods, baby items, and women’s products.
To make it more festive, you can wrap your box in wrapping paper. After all, it is a gift! If you do not want to do a whole month of donations, it’s okay to just bring your donation to the church. We will have a box there for those single donations.
If you know of any individual or family that could use a box of donations, please let us know. The Missions Ministry will be sure to have a box especially for them.
So be on the lookout for those “Buy One, Get One” sales!! Please be mindful of expiration dates on items; we do not want to give any food items that have expired. The items will be delivered during the last week of December.
If you have any questions, email our missions ministry.
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