Thanksgiving Baskets at CCC
If you’re part of the CCC family, you likely already know all about Thanksgiving Baskets. But for those of you who haven’t yet heard, here’s a little about Thanksgiving Baskets at CCC. In early November, the people are asked head out to their local grocery store and purchase everything needed for a traditional Thanksgiving meal – from cranberry sauce to the star of the show, the turkey! The shopping list goes out accompanied with a large tote, a place for everything to go when returned a couple of weeks later. Once items from the shopping list are returned to the church, those ingredients are distributed to families that may otherwise go without a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Thanksgiving Baskets by the Numbers
Thanksgiving Baskets has become a part of our culture. We are overwhelmed by the way our community responds without hesitation year after year. In 2018 alone, the people of CCC helped to fill up and hand out 1,561 baskets, and each container has enough food for at least 10 meals. That means, in 2018 the people of CCC made 15,610 meals possible for people who might otherwise not have taken part in a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Just an interesting fact to note, since we began this yearly initiative, the church as a whole has distributed enough meals to put one plate of food on each of the 105,000 seats in the Ohio State Football Stadium – plus an additional 35,000 meals!
More Than Just a Meal
The Thanksgiving baskets, full of ingredients for an entire meal, were not only distributed through our local outreach ministry partners but also to those that our staff or members have suggested may be in need of a basket. These gifts made possible by the people of CCC come with two additional small gifts. Each Thanksgiving basket comes with an invitation to join us for any of our services as well as a copy of Andy Stanley’s book, How Good is Good Enough? We hope that our work through Thanksgiving Baskets fills more than just tables with food each year, but also the hearts and souls of the people who receive these gifts from the members of our church family.