Hope Ministries – Holiday Events

On Easter Sunday, April 4, Hope Ministries will serve and deliver nearly 2,000 meals to men, women and children. Some meals will be served on-site at our Hope Café, while others will be delivered to the homebound, elderly and low-income individuals and families. And we will have a special theme of “Bearing Burdens.” All guests who join us at Hope Café will receive a teddy bear (as supplies last). To help us with this special holiday celebration, we’ll need more than 100 volunteers. We’re also looking for those with a caring heart to donate the following food items:

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 more than 1,000 warm meals each holiday throughout the greater Des Moines area.

At Christmas, every guest who dines with us at our Hope Café receives a gift. Our Adopt-a-Family Hope Boxes are put together by volunteers in the weeks before Christmas and handed out at Hope Café.

Residents of our facilities also join in on the Christmas fun. Many join us at our Hope Café for the holiday meal. At our Bethel Mission and Door of Faith facilities, men receive Adopt-a-Brother gift bags. Women and children at our Hope Family Center receive Adopt-a-Family gifts.

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.

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.

Volunteers who help out on-site are split into two shifts. Our on-site holiday volunteers are full of energy as it can be a fast-paced, on-your-feet event.

Others help out by delivering meals around the greater Des Moines area. We provide delivery volunteers with maps to their various destinations. This is a good option for families with children under 12.

Other off-site volunteer opportunities for the holidays include our Adopt-a-Family and Adopt-a-Brother programs and our Quilts for Hope program. Our Community Involvement and Volunteer Coordinator organizes and assigns our "volunteer troops" during holiday events.

It takes a lot of food to serve and deliver more than 1,000 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 website for details about the next upcoming holiday.

Hope Ministries doubled its efforts to ensure the health and comfort of families and individuals in need throughout central Iowa during the 2009 holiday season. Through a winter wear giveaway in early December and a partnership with Refugee Cooperative Services, we gave away more than 1,400 donated coats! The coats, jackets and other winter wear we distributed were donated by individuals, churches and businesses, as well as Burlington Coat Factory and the One Warm Coat campaign. Apparel retailer Aeropostale also contributed 1,000 coats! Hope Ministries is grateful for the warm hearts of these local partners who helped us warm the bodies and souls of those in need.