Every year for the past 20 years, the Muskogee Seventh-day Adventist Church Pathfinders have collected canned foods and distributed Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to needy families, as well as Christmas gifts to those families with children. This year, the Muskogee Panthers Pathfinders and the Muskogee SDA Christian Academy worked together and distributed 17 food baskets and 36 gifts for Christmas. The pictures depict the amount of items collected and the youth distributing the Christmas baskets. We had the added pleasure this year of Pastor Pat Milligan helping deliver the baskets and praying with the families. A special thanks to Kathy Jones for spearheading and organizing this worthy mission for the past 20 years.
300 sacks are left on doorsteps for residents to fill and are picked up by the youth 3 days later. They are taken to the church where the items are sorted. Kathy then divides them into boxes according to the number of members in the household, labels them, and on the Sunday before Christmas they are delivered to the homes. She also purchases and wraps the gifts so each child receives something on Christmas morning.
Some of the families are referred by DHS, others come through our food bank, or are selected through Facebook. If a family asks on Facebook if there is anyone who can help with Thanksgiving or Christmas, Kathy will contact them and put them on the list. The number of food baskets given also varies from year to year. This Christmas was the most food baskets we have ever given. We are grateful that God has given us the ability to help so many families!
by :: Cindy Adams
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