2008 Holiday Season at Hope Ministries

It was a record-setting year at Hope Ministries during the 2008 holiday season! More men, women and children than ever before joined us on both Thanksgiving and Christmas at our Hope Café for a special meal and other activities. We are so thankful to the 140-plus volunteers who helped out during both days!

Thanksgiving 2008: We served a record 1,906 meals on Thanksgiving Day in 2008! About 200 of those meals were served at our Hope Café to individuals and families who joined us for our big turkey dinner! The rest, a record-setting 1,700, were delivered throughout the Des Moines metro by volunteers. Our Thanksgiving Day meal would not have been possible without the help of more than 100 volunteers and an astounding number of food donations from so many in our community. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Christmas 2008: Our reaction after Christmas at Hope Ministries in 2008: Praise the Lord! Thanks to our volunteers and many generous food donors, we served 2,160 warm meals! Wow! Our Hope Café was a joyous place to be on Christmas Day as hundreds of men, women and children joined us for a warm meal accompanied by the music of violins.


Christmas Day also included our annual Gifts of Hope giveaway. Hope Ministries gave more than 1,700 donated toys to children of all ages. And guests received coats, hats, scarves and mittens at our winter wear giveaway. We also gave away hundreds of quilts as well as hundreds of Hope boxes which included food and hygiene items, and other necessities.

Our thanks to the more than 140 volunteers and hundreds of donors who helped make this special celebration of Christ’s birth possible!