Hope-filled holidays

Holidays at Hope Ministries are a big deal! What better time to celebrate and spread God’s love to the homeless, hungry and hurting? 

Each year on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Hope Ministries invites the public to our Hope Café where we serve a delicious holiday meal. We also provide holiday meals off site, delivering 2,000 or more warm meals each holiday throughout the greater Des Moines area. 

On Christmas, we also provide Adopt-a-Brother, Adopt-a-Sister and Adopt-a-Child gifts for men, women and children in our emergency shelters and recovery centers thanks to generous donors. And we provide Quilts of Hope to those who come to us for Christmas meals.

We couldn’t put on our holiday events without the help of hundreds of volunteers. Volunteers help decorate Hope Café, drop off donations of food prior to the holiday, serve meals on-site and deliver meals off-site. 

Keep reading for more information about getting involved in our hope-filled holidays. 

Holiday-related volunteer opportunities

Hundreds of volunteers help us make holidays special for our residents and for the hundreds of individuals and families from the public who join us on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Many people help out by serving on-site during the holiday. Our volunteers help with everything from decorating to assembling and serving emails to washing dishes. We have volunteers who serve on garbage control, who distribute Hope boxes and gift bags and who serve dessert. Others help out by delivering meals around the greater Des Moines area.

We begin accepting holiday volunteers in October. 

Holiday food donations

It takes a lot of food to serve and deliver more than 2,000 meals each Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas! Many people help us out during the holidays by donating food for our holiday meals. 

Prior to each holiday, we put together a list of needed food donations—everything from turkeys and hams to dinner rolls and desserts. We also provide details as to where to deliver donations. Watch the Web site for details about the next upcoming holiday.