BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — Home Sweet Home Ministries has started collecting food donations for their “Big Give” event to use for their Thanksgiving “Give Thanks” Event this year.
“Right now we’re kind of in the give phase where we’re just asking for the community’s help to collect all the meal items that we’ll be putting into boxes that we’ll give away around Thanksgiving time,” said Leslie Bunge, director of development for Home Sweet Home Ministries.
Donations can be dropped off at Midwest Food Bank through the end of October and then on Nov. 22, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., families can come by the ministry’s office and get a meal.
“This event is near and dear to our hearts because Home Sweet Home was actually founded on Thanksgiving Day in 1917. So Thanksgiving is a really big time here for us at Home sweet home,” Bunge said. “It’s just a great way for us to say thank you and give back to those in need.”
To donate a full meal, please include the following: one box of stuffing mix, two cans of corn, two cans of green beans, two cans of cream of mushroom soup, one box of mashed potatoes, one gravy packet, one pouch of French fried onions, one can of cranberry sauce, one box of pie crust mix, one can of pumpkin pie, one pie crust mix, one can of evaporated milk and one frozen turkey. Individual items may also be donated.
Home Sweet Home hopes to distribute 2,000 meal boxes complete with all the fixings this Thanksgiving with the help of their partners Midwest Food Bank, Thrivent Financial and HyVee.
“Hy-Vee is partnering with us once again this year and they have special case pricing. If you kind of want to buy things in bulk for us, they have that running through the end of the month here. Then you can also purchase turkey cards at the register there as well,” she said.
Turkey cards are 20 dollars and will help purchase a turkey for a family. You can also purchase items online and leave at HyVee for the food bank to pick up. Monetary donations are also accepted through Home Sweet Home’s website.
“When you think of Thanksgiving, you think of a meal and coming together as a family, being able to kind of share stories, be with family and friends, and just have that relationships and those kinds of things,” she said. “To be able to offer that to someone when times are tight and just like, I don’t know where or how am I going to put a meal together?
“Here’s a way to for us to be able to give back and have more people hopefully join around the table together as a family and enjoy Thanksgiving meal.”
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