Hope-filled Holidays
There are so many ways you can help out this holiday season at Hope Ministries and make a positive impact on homeless, near-homeless and hungry men, women and children, including both on-site and off-site opportunities. We will begin sign-up for holiday volunteer opportunities on October 4.
Thanksgiving & Christmas Day volunteering
NEW! Bring Christmas to Hope
Holiday Food Donations
Tokens for the Broken
Thanksgiving & Christmas Day volunteering
We will need around 150 volunteers on both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day as we serve several hundred meals on site at our Hope Café (connected to our Bethel Mission facility) and deliver more than 1,500 meals throughout the Greater Des Moines area. We will begin accepting volunteers on Monday, October 4.
We have a fun, new family-friendly Christmas opportunity this year called Bring Christmas to Hope. The event itself is scheduled for Saturday, December 11, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at our Bethel Mission facility (1310 6th Avenue in Des Moines). Through this event, we invite you to purchase and donate some of our most-needed items. You will be providing a special Christmas gift for our ministry, and in turn, for the men, women and children we serve. Items can be donated in any quantity so whether you choose one item or multiple, it’s up to you. (No gift wrapping, please.) You can drop our donation off at anytime during our Bring Christmas to Hope event. The atmosphere that day will be festive, so we hope you will join us!
Here’s a list of items we welcome people to collect and provide through Bring Christmas to Hope:
- men's white tube socks
- men's t shirts
- men's underwear
- men's winter gloves
- 1" - 3 ring binders
- liquid laundry detergent
- NIV translation Bibles (pew Bibles, large print and pocket sized new testaments)
- men's deodorant
- men's disposable razors
- body wash for women
- chapstick
- dental floss
- women's shaving cream
Holiday Food Donations
As you can imagine, it takes a lot of food to feed hundreds of people on-site and thousands more off-site each Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you’re looking for a way to help, we invite you to donate food for one or both of our holiday meals. Holiday food donations can be dropped off at our Bethel Mission facility at 1310 Sixth Avenue on the day before Thanksgiving (Wednesday, November 24) and two days before Christmas (Thursday, December 23) during business hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
We are requesting any of the following food items:
- stuffing
- gravy mix
- cooked pies (pumpkin & fruit)
- other baked goods (brownies, apple crisp)
- dinner rolls
- green bean casserole
- frozen fruit juice (grape, orange, apple, fruit punch, lemonade)
- milk
- eggs
- butter
- non stick cooking spray
- frozen or cooked & picked turkey (Thanksgiving)
- hams (Christmas)
Token for the Broken: Give the gift of transportation
Finding transportation can be difficult for the men and women who stay at our emergency shelter and recovery centers. They need a way to get to jobs, visit family, make it to doctor’s appointments, travel to job interviews ... and for many, it’s a financial burden they’re unable to bear alone. You can provide a special holiday blessing for our residents and support Hope Ministries by purchasing and donating bus tokens for the Dart bus system in Des Moines. Adult bus tokens come in packs of 10 for $17.50 and can be purchased at participating Hy-Vee Food Stores, Dahl’s Food Marts, Younkers and a number of other locations around Des Moines. For a full listing of bus token sales outlets, please visit www.dmmta.com/allfares_pass.html.
Bus token donations should be delivered to Hope Ministries on December 19 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at our Bethel Mission Chapel at 1310 6th Ave. Or, you can deliver bus token donations to our Administrative Offices at 5075 E. University, Suite B, Pleasant Hill, prior to December 20. Thank you!
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