Friday, November 14, 2014

Take it to the Streets: Backpacks of Love

Our church is once again participating in the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen backpack project, as we have done for the last few years. The Soup Kitchen celebrates the holidays by giving filled backpacks to the men and women who are guests at lunch. The Champaign-Urbana community is very generous to children at Christmastime through such projects as Shop with a Cop, Salvation Army Toy Store, toy drives, etc. However, the men and women who attend the soup kitchen daily are rarely remembered. For many, these backpacks will be their only presents.

Backpacks should be stuffed with toiletries such as deodorant, hand lotion for hands chapped by the cold, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, shaving cream, and cold weather items such as gloves, hats, scarves, socks, sweatshirts, tee shirts, long underwear, and regular underwear. Other appreciated items include hand warmers, cough drops, books, decks of cards, small fleece blankets, candy, gum, and food items. All items should be new. We are asking that all backpacks be new or nearly new as well.

All backpacks should be labelled with the gender and size of recipient (i.e. Man-XL). We found last year that most of our guests requested at least a size Large, while most preferred XL or even XXL. There is also a need for some bags with size 3X.

Bags for children up to age five are also needed. Please label these by gender and age of the child. Children’s bags may include small toys. We would also like to have diaper bags filled with baby items.

We will collect filled backpacks at the church on Sunday, December 7th and 14th. When you drop off a backpack, please let us know so that your gift can be acknowledged. Tax forms will be available. Backpacks will be given away at the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen on Friday, December 19th beginning at 10 a.m. 


If you have questions about this project, visit the Social Action Committee table after services or contact Sandy Hannum at smhannum@gmail.com

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