Holiday Helpings

For many of the years I have lived in Tampa, I have helped Metropolitan Ministries around Thanksgiving and Christmas with either the soup kitchen for serving a meal or in the drop-off tent sorting donations. This year, due to health reasons, I’m unable to give of myself as I usually do. After seeing what Darren Rowse did in Australia with his blog, Problogger.net, by raising enough money to donate 110 pairs of chickens to the poor, I decided that I could do far more good for the community by pooling all the resources of my readers to help out the families this year.

Following the same spirit as Darren, I will be donating Boxes of Hope to the needy. My goal is 100 boxes for 100 families in the Greater Tampa Bay area. A box costs $35, but donations of any amount will collect and add up to purchase boxes. Please give whatever you can, even $1.00, no amount is too small when we add them up together. Each box contains the following:

• 1 gift certificate for a turkey
• 1 loaf of bread (fresh)
• 1 box of cereal (hot or cold)
• 1 package of cookies or pastries
• 1 can of cranberry sauce
• 1 box of dessert mix
• 1 bag or box of dry beans
• 1 can of fruit
• 1 can or packet of gravy
• 1 family box of Jell-O or pudding
• 4 cans of vegetables
• 1 can or box of potatoes
• 1 bag or box of rice
• 1 bag  or box of stuffing mix
• 2 cans of black beans
• 2 cans of yams

There are 3 ways to join the effort:

1. Make a donation at GivethePerfectGift.com
2. Mail your donation to:

Metropolitan Ministries
2002 North Florida Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33602-2204

3. I will be tracking all donations to my PayPal account and making a bulk donation on November 18th, 2006 with whatever funds have been sent in. Make a donation using this button.