What is it you love about Christmas? Friends, family, food, carols, church or all the presents?
It’s a wonderful time of year isn’t it! But for many people, Christmas is the toughest time of year. Whilst everyone is tucking in to their Christmas dinner, some are wondering if they’ll even be able to eat at all. Or maybe there’s a mother shedding a silent tear as she sees her son sit on Santa’s lap and ask for something she knows she’ll never be able to get him.
These people don’t live in a distant country, they live in our very own communities. Roughly 4.6 million people in the UK alone live in persistent poverty.
So whilst we rush around the shops picking out gifts for our friends and family, let’s not forget the call on our lives to love our neighbours too, and remember that we are blessed to be a blessing!
The great news is there are SO MANY ways that we can share some Christmas love and joy with those who live around us!
The Jericho Road Project was born out of King’s Church London, and they have a number of Christmas Mercy Projects that they run locally. One of which is Big Red Box.
Big Red Box is a food hamper project that collects, packs and distributes large food hampers to families and individuals in need across South East London. The boxes contain about 20 items each which are both essential foods and Christmas treats. Over the last six years they have distributed over 5,000 hampers and are currently growing at such a pace that they could be looking at packing around 2,000 boxes this Christmas!
But they need your help!
If you want to share some love this Christmas, all you need to do is check out the shopping list on their website and buy one or a few items. You could get it all yourself or join with friends, family or classmates. You can pick up a flat-pack big red box from one of the King’s Church Sites, or just fill up any box and drop it off!
Gabriel has been volunteering for the Big Red Box initiative for 4 years and she tells us what she loves about it: “The best experience I’ve had so far has got to be going to Sainsbury’s and buying 140 boxes of mince pies. We must have looked like we were obsessed as we had emptied the shelves of them and then went to the staff asking if they had any more in storage. They were happy to help us since we were paying for them and we were happy to buy them since we knew that it will be going to those in need!”
16 year old Indigo also shares with us why she’s involved; “I’ve been volunteering with Big Red Box for 5 years and I love when I’m handing out flyers at supermarkets and people are so overwhelmingly generous, particularly when they initially seem too disinterested or too busy to donate. I love thinking of the people who will be unpacking the boxes, who will have been brought a bit of extra happiness at Christmas time.”
If you don’t live near a King’s site you can still be a part of it! You can donate to contribute to a Big Red Box. Click here for some options.
We know there are loads of other amazing churches and charities doing work for those in need, especially at Christmas, so do a little research and get involved!
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:40
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