Thanksgiving meal boxes: Continuing the tradition

GREER—More than 30 years ago, the Foundations Sunday school class at Memorial United Methodist Church began a mission of assembling and distributing Thanksgiving meal boxes to families in need within their community.

They started this with the hope of sharing Christ’s love with their neighbors and teaching their children to compassionately live out their faith through serving others.

Beginning months in advance, they work diligently to fundraise the cost of each box, collect food items from local grocery stores, organize the packing process and then personally deliver the boxes to homes.

They average anywhere between 60-70 boxes each year, and one year they prepared more than 100 boxes. The boxes cost $65 each to fully stock with traditional Thanksgiving meal items, but the contents vary year to year depending on what partnering grocery stores have available.

The local elementary schools in Greer help them identify the families in need.

This tradition has grown tremendously over the years, fostering a sense of community spirit and interconnectedness within the Memorial church family and greater community. And now it brings together the support and helping hands of all ages.

The children of the Foundations class members began helping with this tradition when they were very young, and now they have formed their own adult class called the Stepping Stones. They continue to partner with the Foundations class each year and have begun including their own children to help pack and deliver boxes on this special Sunday each year, creating an outreach opportunity for generations to come.

Through the generosity of their congregation and faithful commitment of this class, 66 boxes were packaged and delivered the Sunday before Thanksgiving this year.