Messiah Lutheran Church members have distributed Christmas Hampers to families in need in our community for over 50 years.
In 2021 this program will need to look different, due to COVID, but it is our intent to honor the spirit of the ministry and provide families food and gifts for the holiday.
What Does It Look Like?
We will be sponsoring 50 families again this year. Although the need is great in our community with the current changes, we want to make sure that we can support the families in need in the same generous way that we always have.
We are partnering with several new non-profits this year and are excited for new these relationships.
We will not be shopping for food. Instead each family will get a gift card to a local grocery store to stock their pantry as they see fit. The value of this card will be comparable with what we have spent on food in the past. Due to this change, we will not be accepting donations of turkeys, hams and cookies.
We will be buying each child one gift from their wish list and some requested clothing items. In most cases these will be purchased by our elf squad (see below on how you can help).
Families will drive up through drive-through lines and not enter the church. A small group of volunteers will bring gifts out to the cars for them. Due to the fact families will not be entering the building we will not have a used clothing room. We will arrange delivery for families not able to pick up.
Lastly, due to these changes, we will not be having a giving tree this year. The hamper project will be supported almost exclusively through cash donations.
How You Can Help
Please donate to our effort! You can click on the following link to take us to our donation page, or donations can be mailed to the Messiah Lutheran Church at 410 H Street NE, Auburn, WA 98002
We will be forming a small group of Elves to purchase and wrap gifts
Although we will not be having a giving tree, we will assign a complete family to anyone wanting to do the gift buying for an entire family of children
Lastly on Friday December 10th and Saturday December 11th we will need a small group of volunteers to prepare for and help give out our hampers.
If you would like to volunteer for any of these volunteer efforts, have questions, or want to support a complete family, please reach out to either Laurie or Sheilia at the contact information below:
Sheilia McLaughlin
She.mclaughlin@gmail.com
(253) 886-0925
