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COLORADO—Along with holiday gifts given to local needy children every year, the Colorado Springs Corps also conducts the “Fill A Stocking” donation program.
Organizations and individuals sign out however many empty net stockings—provided by the corps—they want to fill. Along with each stocking they get a list of suggested items for each age and gender.
When they receive the filled stockings, corps volunteers distribute them to parents to give to their kids on Christmas Day.
The Fill-A-Stocking program also serves to meet the needs of the homeless in the community. Rather than filling the stockings with toys, donors fill them with items useful to a homeless person. These stockings are distributed on Christmas Eve in conjunction with the corps’ daily Soup Run project.
In Vail Valley, nearly 300 people attended an “Empty Bowls” luncheon to raise money to increase hunger awareness and help fill The Salvation Army food pantry.
Tickets sold for $20 and each participant received a bowl of soup, bread and dessert. Local artisans made and donated the bowls, restaurants prepared seven kinds of soups, and pastry shops contributed bread and desserts. The venue was also provided free of charge.
After the meal, guests took their bowls home.
The sold-out event generated over $9,000 in ticket sales and donations.
Empty Bowls is a grassroots movement that generates funds for organizations to fight hunger, raise awareness of hunger and food security, and create an attitude to alleviate hunger. For an information packet visit www.emptybowls.net.
ARIZONA—The Salvation Army’s Southwest Divisional Headquarters has partnered with Buca de Beppo Italian restaurants in a fundraising event in the Phoenix Valley area.
Four locations throughout the valley have pledged to donate 20 percent of their profits to the Army on every other Monday through the rest of the year.
Participating locations are Arrowhead (Peoria), Chandler, Mesa and Scottsdale.
Other restaurant chains across the U.S. offer the same programs. Check with a favorite site in your area.
KENTUCKY—Women from the Danville Corps have created the “Red Purse Society.” Members come from varied walks of life—homemakers, bookkeepers, grandmothers, cashiers—but all share two things: a desire to grow stronger in the Lord and a red purse.
The group meets once a month and begins every get-together with dinner. After the meal, two women share their “pursetimonies”—10-minute stories taken from their personal lives and illustrated by an object pulled from their purses. Every shared story establishes a bond and deepens the group’s trust level.
“The chance to listen to testimonies is beautiful because so many of the women have experienced grace and don’t even know it,” Captain Sarah Nelson, corps officer, said. “This gives me the perfect opportunity to point them to Jesus.”
Between meetings, the women connect via Facebook.
CALIFORNIA—The rise of homelessness, aggravated by the current economic crisis, has increased the need for holiday turkeys this year. The Asian American Yerba Buena Corps (AAYBC) is streamlining their donation process this Thanksgiving in hopes of increasing the quantity of incoming food items.
A drive-through “turkey drop” will simplify the way donors make their grocery contributions by allowing them to drive through the drop-off location and hand their items over without needing to leave their cars.
The desired effect is that—because it will take less time and effort—more people will participate in the program.
Last year, the AAYBC’s Thanksgiving Meal Delivery program provided meals to over 3,500 homebound seniors and 500 homeless.
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