Because you gave, 6,019 families (24,559 people) received help on Thanksgiving Day.

Because you gave, 6,019 families (24,559 people) received help on Thanksgiving Day.

So much to be thankful for

In a year like this one, it is sometimes easier to focus on the struggles and difficulties our nation and community are walking through. We hear news about increasing food insecurity, loss of jobs, and rising stress levels all around – nationally and locally. Certainly, the task of Thanksgiving seemed daunting this year. We knew that the need would be as great as ever, and we also knew that fewer volunteers would be able to help.  We had concerns too about having enough food for all the need.  As we look back – now a few days after Thanksgiving – we have so much to be thankful for.  As he always does, God provided, and you stepped up and into the need. Wow.

Gifts of turkeys and Thanksgiving food

Day by day, you drove by, your trunk filled with food. After long days, or a long week at work, you made the time to stop by the store to pick up extra Thanksgiving items, just so someone else could be ok. Some of you live close to our drop off point in downtown Arlington, but many of you drove across the Metroplex, just to make sure you were helping to “lift the load” of hard-working moms and dads in a moment of need.  Instead of one turkey this year, many of you brought by 2 or 4, or a trunk load. One man dropped by late one night with a truck load of turkeys.  He had tears streaming down his face, because he was so grateful that he could give.  By the end of Thanksgiving Day, we had just enough turkeys and Thanksgiving meals to meet the need.

Gifts of Presence, Time, and Effort

In a year when volunteerism is down across the country, and understandably so, thousands of volunteers still came out to help us make these deliveries to people’s homes.  Through the last several years, we’ve averaged 6,000 volunteers on Thanksgiving Day.  For the sake of social distancing, we decided not to register the volunteers this year, so we don’t know exactly how many came, just that the number of people were less than in previous years.  Spontaneously and beautifully, these volunteers began to make more deliveries.  Instead of the 2-3 deliveries teams typically make each year, volunteers offered more of their time to deliver to 6-8 families.  When they finished, they would come back again for more.  Generous, faithful, hard-working people delivered all of the food in short order.

Grateful for this Community

The Mission Arlington^® family is simply a reflection of our community. When you give, we give it away.   We refer to ourselves often as twice-blessed, because we are so blessed to receive what you give, and then blessed again to give it away to people in need.

All Glory to God

We want to publicly express our gratitude to God for the privilege we have of serving with you, and in working with the extraordinary people who come through our front doors for help every day. Mission Arlington^® belongs to God and always has. Despite the circumstances of these days, we have so much to be thankful for.