A Spirit of Giving WRITTEN BY AMANDA TRONCONE
When you enter through the doors of First
The board gathers the items collected, packs
Evangelical Free Church, you will find people
the boxes, and writes notes to recipients
whose hearts overflow with generosity in every
before delivering the boxes as a surprise.As
pew. Our church is grateful for your continued
Sarah Howard, deaconess, said,” It’s more than
giving during this year of uncertainty. It has not
food. It's a reminder that we, as the church,
gone unnoticed. As we have approached the
care about people and meeting the needs of
holiday season, we again turned to you for
people in our community.”
donations and gifts for our annual Operation Christmas Child campaign as well as our
During Harvest Home, we collect traditional
Harvest Home food collection.
Thanksgiving foods as well as pantry staples and proteins including canned fruits and
Throughout October, we collected Operation
veggies, dessert mixes, pastas, peanut butter,
Christmas Child shoeboxes for Samaritan’s
canned chicken and tuna, and drink mixes.
Purse International Relief. We asked everyone
Plus, First Free provides a gift card to Giant
to take a shoebox and fill it with items for kids
Eagle to each household to purchase a turkey
from ages 2 -14. Each box can be filled with
or other perishable food items.
toys, crafts and activities, personal care items, clothing and accessories and, of course, a
We were able to give two large boxes of food to
“wow” item! During National Collection Week,
15 families this year thanks to you and your
Pastor Joel transported the over 200 boxes we
generosity.
collected to a drop off location! We know that 2020 has been a difficult year for many families physically, spiritually, and financially, so we want to offer a huge THANK YOU to you and your families for supporting others during this holiday season.
Each year, the Deacon Board organizes our Harvest Home collection for recipients within our First Free Family.
