A team from Hope Lutheran volunteers at the Regional Food Bank on the first Saturday of each month from 10:30am to noon. The Regional Food Bank supplies food and other goods to food pantries, homeless shelters, daycares, senior centers and other organizations in 23 counties in northeast New York, from Plattsburgh to Newburgh. Food donations come into the warehouse, then they are inspected, sorted, and packed in boxes by the volunteers. Volunteers range from children to senior citizens -- all are welcome and needed!
Hope Lutheran has collected non-perishable food items every Sunday
for many years. Volunteers from the church deliver the items to two food panties: Doors of Hope (West Sand Lake) and CoNSERNS-U (Rensselaer). Hope Lutheran also participates in special collections, such as back-to-school supplies, and specific foods to supplement children’s lunches when school is not in session. In the past few years, we have also conducted drive-through food drives and bake sales to benefit the two local food pantries.
Hope collects food items and funds for food baskets each year at Christmas and Easter, which are given to "graduates" of the St. Paul's Center, a homeless shelter for women and their children. The baskets contain all the ingredients for a special holiday meal.We also pack "blessing bags" with donations supplied by our congregation. These bags contain personal care items, socks, gloves, hats, granola bars and other items that would be useful to a homeless person. The bags are taken by the congregation members for distribution to homeless people we encounter around town.