Cookies for Christmas: On Christmas, we’ll serve and deliver thousands of meals to people in need, and we plan to include two homemade cookies in each meal. If you’ve got bakers in your church family, please consider helping out! Some churches and groups have already committed to this, so we just have about 1,000 cookies left to collect. Cookie donations can be dropped off during our Christmas Food Donation Day on Saturday, Dec. 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at our Bethel Mission (1310 6th Avenue in Des Moines).

Bible Project: This is a great opportunity for men’s groups! We are currently looking for 40 brand new Bibles for men in our life recovery program, plus we’d love to have a few groups we can count on in the future when we need to replenish our supply. So if you can’t commit now, but think this is something your church might be interested in down the road, just let us know. There are two specific large-print versions we will be collecting and prices range from around $12 to $16 per Bible. We can provide an Amazon or Christianbook.com link.

Shoes and Socks for Easter: Yes, though we’re currently busy planning for our big Christmas outreach, we’re also looking ahead to Easter! This coming Easter, we plan to offer something new to men in our shelter. Volunteers will help us wash the feet of men staying in our shelter, and along with that meaningful opportunity, each man will also receive a brand new pair of shoes and socks. This is a big undertaking and we’re hopeful churches will come alongside us to collect shoes and socks. We will be collecting specific shoes in the $30 range and 12-packs of socks in the $15 range. Once your church signs up, we will provide you with an Amazon link for purchasing.