Volunteers distributed toys and presents, fresh groceries, gift cards, and Hope this Christmas Season to 128 Families.
The St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry operated by the St. Christopher Conference hosted their Annual Christmas Giveaway event this year for families and individuals and were able to help many have a holiday meal and celebrate. The food pantry generously provided a $20 food voucher for fresh meat and a box of side fixings for the meal including potatoes, stuffing, canned vegetables, jello, cornbread, cookies, milk and candy. This year the Greater Chicago Food Depository delivery arrived the day before volunteers packaged the items for distributions, so they were also able to give fresh cantaloupes, mangos, and eggs.
Each week, Monday – Thursday from 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, the food pantry at St. Christopher, located at 4130 147th Street in Midlothian, is open to serve those in need. While the normal service area is Crestwood, Midlothian and Posen, they are now serving families from many Southside locations as a result of increased demand and support from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Catholic Charities. The community also lends its support to the pantry with students at Bremen High School and Dylan Gluszek from Midlothian, IL, operating food drives during the month of December that help to stock the shelves for many months.
Gifts were given out to children under age 10 and were donated from a toy collection run by the Midlothian Community Policing Committee (from Midlothian, IL). Donations were received from the Midlothian Police Officers Association and donation boxes were available at local businesses for donations. This year, due to COVID-19 precautions, in lieu of “Giving Tree tags” for parishioners of St. Christopher Parish to purchase requested items, donors were asked to donate gift cards. This enabled a contact free way to keep the spirit of giving alive. The collection yielded over 250 gift cards in denominations from $10 to $30 for Dollar Tree, Five Below, Target, Visa and Walmart. All families with children over 10 years old were given gift cards as well as families without children to share in the bounty received by the Conference.
Thank you to our St. Christopher Vincentians for all your efforts to spread the joy of Christmas in your community! Through your hands, Hope grows in the hearts of our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
This winter, the call for the Society and our volunteer members to help local neighbors in need is immense. Due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are responding to a significant rise among those we serve for food, clothing, and housing assistance. If you would like to make a donation to help us, help others please visit our secure, online giving page https://stvincentdepaulchicago.networkforgood.com/projects/119193-annual-holiday-appeal-2020. Your support is truly appreciated!