Thanksgiving dinner for First Place

Thanksgiving Food Baskets for 65 Families of the First Place School were delivered today.

Earlier this month MIPC Missions & Children’s Ministry entered into a partnership with The First Place School in Seattle.

First Place is a service agency devoted to educating and nourishing children whose families struggle with the risk or reality of homelessness. They not only offer classroom education to children in K-6th grade but also housing and support services to the children and their families enabling them to achieve permanent stability.

Our first project was to provide a Thanksgiving food bag to 65 First Place families. M.I.P.C.’s children were asked to donate non-perishable food items such as canned cranberry sauce, yams and pie filling and other items such as stuffing mix and gravy. Cash donations were encouraged so turkeys could be purchased. Other turkeys were donated by M.I.P.C.’s congregation members and their friends. M.I.P.C.’s children decorated notes to the First Place families that were included in the food bags.

Today M.I.P.C.’s staff, families and friends assembled 65 bags of food and loaded the bags along with 65 turkeys into a church van and delivered them to the First Place School. The plan is to hand them out to families as they attend parent/teacher meetings this week. We were greeted at the school by several staff members who helped us unload and expressed their appreciation. We were even lucky enough to watch a couple of families receive their Thanksgiving surprise. An early Thanksgiving gift to us!

Elaine Bolger, Missions Committee