Church prepares Thanksgiving dinner hampers for St. Albert families in need
Posted October 12, 2024 4:44 pm.
Last Updated October 12, 2024 4:45 pm.
Volunteers from St. Albert’s Kingdom Church, in partnership with Save-On-Foods, spent Saturday morning assembling Thanksgiving dinner hampers.
Families in need submit a request ahead of time, and the dinners are tailored to their needs, including family size and dietary restrictions.
“It’s a full Thanksgiving meal, so there’s turkeys, potatoes, everything you could imagine for Thanksgiving, it is in the box,” said Harrison Chokka, Kingdom Church’s lead pastor.
“Especially with families, some people don’t know if they’re going to have a meal or not. So for us to come and deliver it to their house, gratitude is what we see time and time again.”
This is the fifth year of Thanksgiving hampers for Kingdom Church. In 2022, they distributed 46 hampers. This year, that number has gone up to 75.
“We do this because part of our church is to give back to our community,” Chokka explained. “Basically in our DNA, it’s that God has given us so much, so we want to give back to others, and this is a way we can tangibly give back to the people in our community.”
Just like food banks across Alberta have seen an increase in visitors, the requests for Thanksgiving hampers have increased as well. But Chokka says on the giving side of things, generosity has kept up with demand.
“People give towards the mission. Obviously as the economy goes, it can be difficult for some people, but what we’ve seen is that when we have a strong mission, people give towards that.”
