Merry Christmas from your Mission Arlington® Family

On Christmas day, Mission Arlington® closes. It is the only day all year that we aren’t here. There is a beautiful calm, and quiet to this place, as our families are celebrating Christmas at home. We have been so blessed this Christmas season, as we have watched the incredible generosity of this community – day after day, and as we have watched our Lord make all of this possible. We are truly honored to be a part of this great community.

On Friday morning, we’ll be back. Our trucks will be picking up your donations; our food pantry will provide food, and we’ll be here to love our Lord and to serve the people – alongside of you.

May this Christmas, for each of you, be truly blessed. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.

Mission Arlington®’s Christmas Store closed today at 6 p.m.  For ten days, this free store swirled with volunteers, eager to lend a helping hand at Christmas.

Families in need placed their children in the childcare, then picked out gifts for those children from a room full of toys for kids of all ages. Those gifts were wrapped with care, and help was often available to carry people’s gifts to their car for them.

Every adult who came through got to hear the Christmas Story, told in various ways, straight out of Luke chapter 2.  Many people responded to that story, wanting to know more about Christ, or by becoming Christians themselves. Through yesterday, 324 adults had accepted Christ.  Many more wanted to know more or had questions.

Final numbers aren’t in just yet, but by the end of the day on Monday, 24,429 children had received toys from the store.

Mission Arlington® will still be open tomorrow, Christmas Eve through 4 p.m.  We will be making final bike deliveries, providing toys to families experiencing a last minute emergency before Christmas, and receiving donations from the community.

We are so humbled by the way you gave, volunteered, and prayed for us through this beautiful season.  We are so grateful for your constant support.  Together, one life at a time, we are making a difference in our community.  Thank you!

To God be the glory!

Christmas Store Opens: December 12th – 23rd, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily (closed Sundays). You can bring new and/or nearly new toys to the mission offices up through Christmas Eve. (For Holiday Toy Ideas, click here.) To volunteer in the “store,” call 817-277-6620. If your family or someone you know needs help at the Christmas Store, click here to discover the details you need.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” is perennially one of the top ten Christmas songs. Written by artist Meredith Wilson in the 1950s, it seems just as relevant and fun with each new Christmas season.

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, after all, at Mission Arlington^®. No, there isn’t snow on the ground like there was at this time two years ago. However, there have been a team of people working since last Christmas, on the “Christmas Store.” Toys have been organized and moved into place, getting ready for the public opening of the store on December 12th.

There is a beautiful spirit which permeates the hearts of those here at Mission Arlington^®, but it seems especially energized in these days leading up to Christmas.  The generosity of this incredible community just continues to make us smile.

Knowing that hard working parents – in a moment of crisis – are going to be able to take care of their children for Christmas, because of that generosity, just feels good.  Before it is over, more than 30,000 children will receive Christmas gifts from the “Store.”

Beyond that, and as important as anything we get to do through this season, is that we tell the “Christmas Story” to every adult who comes through the Christmas store.  Many of those adults will hear that story this year for the very first time.  For many, that very story will change their lives forever.

Because of a baby born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Mission Arlington^®.  We are grateful!

With Cyber Monday approaching, you have an opportunity to support the work of Mission Arlington® through eligible purchases online at Smile.Amazon.com.

Many of you have already been providing support in the weeks leading up to and through Thanksgiving. Some of you have been giving directly to Mission Arlington®.

We are truly blessed, and we are so grateful for you.

If you are thinking about ways to provide support, the Amazon Smile option is a good way to help.  As you are purchasing items in preparation for Christmas through Amazon, simply choose this link to provide support for Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex®.

SUPPORT MISSION ARLINGTON® THROUGH AMAZON SMILE…

When you purchase through Amazon Smile on behalf of the mission, Amazon contributes 0.5 percent of your purchase to Mission Arlington®. When everyone purchases through Amazon Smile in this way, it really adds up.

Thank you for all you do to support our work here. We are really excited about the Christmas season.

Today, people will gather from across our community in their own homes, with their own family, to share a Thanksgiving meal, and to express thanks to God for HIs provision.  This will be a meal provided by the Lord through the generosity and faithfulness of the community which surrounds and supports Mission Arlington®.

It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of people all across our community joined in this effort to make it possible for this day to be a  blessing for so many families. Because everyone did their part, about 6,000 families (26,000 people) will have what they need for their families on this important day.

Many of you “shouldered the load.” You publicized the need, knocked on doors, sent out e-mails and communicated through social media, so that you could gather the food, load it into trucks, and bring it down to Mission Arlington®.  Others just went out and bought turkeys and Thanksgiving food, driving it down here. We were humbled and honored to the point of tears watching you drive through with such tangible blessings for other people.

Still, others of you gave of your time. You took days off from work, or when you were out of school, and could have been doing so many other things, you still chose to come here for a few hours, or for a day. Your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed. Your hands carried 5,000+ boxes of Thanksgiving food, passing it along assembly lines of people, from one place to another. You went home tired at the end of the day, but hopefully fulfilled, and blessed.

Others have you couldn’t come, but you have prayed, and sent checks of love, so that turkeys would be available, and that we could be here to assist in the activities on this beautiful day.

Today is truly a day of Thanksgiving.  All praise to our heavenly father who keeps his promises, and gives good gifts to his children.  Praise His name for His provisions.

With the Black Friday weekend approaching, you have an opportunity to support the work of Mission Arlington® through eligible purchases online at Smile.Amazon.com.

Many of you have already been providing support in the weeks leading up to and through Thanksgiving. Some of you have been giving directly to Mission Arlington.

Others of you have been coming individually, bringing your families, and/or your teams to lend a hand.  Turkeys and Thanksgiving food are being unloaded, placed onto trucks, and into freezers. Thanksgiving boxes are being built, lists are being made, and so much more that helps Mission Arlington® get ready for Thanksgiving morning.

Others of you are driving in from all across the DFW Metroplex with car-loads of turkeys and Thanksgiving food.  Students have been working hard on school-sponsored food drives, so that children and families in our community will have Thanksgiving food on this important and special holiday.

Thousands of volunteers will drive downtown to Mission Arlington® on Thanksgiving morning, by 8:00 a.m. to give of their time, making the day special for other families, before they celebrate the holiday themselves.

We are truly blessed, and we are so grateful for you.

If you are thinking about ways to provide support, the Amazon Smile option is a good way to help.  As you are purchasing items in preparation for Christmas through Amazon, simply choose this link to provide support for Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex®.

SUPPORT MISSION ARLINGTON THROUGH AMAZON SMILE HER…

When you purchase through Amazon Smile on behalf of the mission, Amazon contributes 0.5 percent of your purchase to Mission Arlington®.  When everyone purchases through Amazon Smile in this way, it really adds up.

Thank you for all you do to support Mission Arlington.  We are really excited about Thanksgiving day deliveries, and Christmas is just around the corner.

The City of Arlington film team was here at Mission Arlington yesterday, filming a few moments of activity from a very fulfilling day.  We love the way this community comes together to provide for people’s needs at Thanksgiving.

We hope that you enjoy this article and the video from the City of Arlington Website. Click the link, and it will take you to the article and video:

”Mission Arlington Helping Families on Thank…

Thank you for all you do to help us take care of the people.  If you have time to volunteer, come on down. There is always plenty to do.  On Thanksgiving morning, we are asking volunteers to arrive at 8:00 a.m. here at 210 W. South St. in downtown Arlington. Thanksgiving food is still needed. Click this link to discover what you can bring to help.

We love doing this, and we love walking this journey with you.  It truly is more “blessed to give than to receive.”

Thanksgiving is upon us once again, a little more than 1 week away.  Last year, Mission Arlington® gave away turkeys to 26,000 people, or 5, 943 families.  It took about 5,200 turkeys to help that happen.

Based upon the number of requests we are receiving, and the intensity of the personal need we are experiencing, it looks like we will serve at least that many people again on Thanksgiving day.

It takes about 6,000 volunteers to make that work.  Volunteers are invited to serve here any time before Thanksgiving, of course, but also and especially on Thanksgiving day.  Volunteers should arrive by 8:00 a.m. to start the day.  Here is a link for more information:Thanksgiving Day Information

We are about half way towards our goal of 5,000+ turkeys.  Could you help us spread the word?  Could you help out by bringing a turkey to our main offices downtown?  We still need about 2,500 turkeys to help Thanksgiving day work.

Pictured above are a group of college students with their professor from the West Coast University. They brought 11 turkeys with them this morning.  We are so blessed by this wonderfully, generous community.

Thank you so much.

Mission Arlington® is getting ready for Thanksgiving morning. Last year, 26,000 people (about 5,200) families received Thanksgiving food from here. Thanksgiving delivery begins on Thanksgiving morning, November 27th, about 8:00 a.m., and ends by noon on the same day.

It takes 5,200 turkeys, and 5,200 boxes filled with Thanksgiving food to make that day work for the people.  In the weeks before Thanksgiving, volunteers help Mission Arlington® get ready. Unsorted food has to be separated; Thanksgiving boxes (everything in it for a Thanksgiving meal except for the turkey) need to be built and filled, and everything needs to be put in place in anticipation of Thanksgiving morning.

Today, hundreds of students are here of all ages.  From the student council of Goodman Elementary, to the Middle School from Coble High School in Mansfield, to the Mansfield High School Key Club, to UTA and TCU students, hundreds of young people are here helping us get ready.  What an incredible day!

It is truly fun to watch the assembly lines at work.  Flat boxes are taped into shape.  These empty boxes are passed along a line, filling up with a variety of food items, then they are taped shut.  From there, another assembly line of students shuttles the boxes into a building a block away.  Hundreds of boxes filled with Thanksgiving food, if not more than a thousand, will be built today.  We are well on our way to Thanksgiving.

How is it possible to express our thanks to you, the generous people of this community, who surround this place with loving arms, just so that someone in need will have a good thanksgiving meal? We are humbled and inspired by your faithful generosity.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. May our Lord bless each of you who so faithfully give, pray, and help.  You are making a difference here.

Thanksgiving preparation is well underway at Mission Arlington®.

A faithful and supportive community surrounds Mission Arlington® in these busy days before Thanksgiving. Student groups, civic clubs, schools, churches, and hosts of individuals/families are sending turkeys and Thanksgiving food our way, so that people will have something on their table for Thanksgiving morning. We are humbled and amazed, but not surprised by this surge of generosity.

This community has always taken care of people who are less fortunate.

Groups of people are also coming our way to lend a hand with food preparation in advance of Thanksgiving morning. This past Saturday, several hundred volunteers came to sort donated food, and to build Thanksgiving boxes.

For the past decade, The YMCA Father-Child Program has been coming to help us get ready for Thanksgiving. The “Y” parents with their children come to sort food in preparation for Thanksgiving day.  Is their any better illustration of how this community works together?  It was beautiful to see the children working so hard to help other children. The pictures here illustrate the joy from that day.

As Mission Arlington® gets ready for Thanksgiving morning, we are still in need of a bunch of turkeys.  Click this link to discover ways that you can help.

Thank you so much for all you do to make Thanksgiving a great day for people in need.