Giving and Serving the Homeless: A New Christmas Traditon

Typically our family particpates in all sorts of acts of kindess during the month of December. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and my recovery from surgery, we haven't been able to do all the things we normally do around Christmas. One of our favorite things to do is visit a local nursing home on Christmas Day and hand out Christmas cards to the residents who are eating tuna salad for dinner. This year we aren't able to visit because of the coronavirus. So, I decided to come up with a different service project/act of kindness of our family to do this season. 

Evan is always deeply concerned for the homeless. He would literally give every homeless person the shirt off of his back. He mentioned something earlier this month about giving the homeless a Christmas gift and that's when I decided that care packages for the homeless would make a perfect project for us.

This afternoon we packed twelve back packs with a Bible, socks, gloves, hats, hot hands, hot toes, chapstick, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, a comb, snacks, a first aid kit, feminine products, and masks. 

All of the kids took the task very seriously! They did so good packing each bag. We also prayed over the bags and for the people that will receive them. 

We also included a hand-written note letting the recipient know that we have been praying for them and we believe that God can use all things for good in their life in the upcoming year. 

We ended up with twelve filled bags and four very happy children. They couldn't wait to hand out these care packages to those who need it.

We drove to several locations where we have seen homesless in our community. We were able to hand out four of the bags before it got dark. We plan to hand out the rest as we see those in need throughout the next couple of weeks. 

The highlight of the day was watching my children hand out the bags they had packed. They were thrilled to hand the bags over and say, "Merry Christmas!" Everyone that recieved a bag was incredibly grateful and loved that the kids were involved. 

 For so many in our culture, Christmas has become about getting more and more. Today, we focused on giving and serving. All six of us enjoyed it immensely. Christmas is about God's gift to us. So its no wonder it blesses us to show the love of Christ to others.  Today I am grateful that even though this Christmas season has been different, my family has been able to find new, wonderful ways to show kindness. I'm thinking homeless care packages may just become another tradition for us!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Tori