Christmas Basket Recap

The 2020 Christmas Basket program was a tremendous success due to the efforts of many and the overwhelming generosity of Holy Family parishioners. The program had to be modified this year because of the Covid pandemic. But, through careful planning, volunteers and parishioners were able to provide much needed food and gifts for 230 families in Williamson County.

The most significant adjustment to the program was asking parishioners to adopt recipient families and purchase gifts for them rather than donating and wrapping gifts as we have traditionally done in past years. The response by the parish was amazing and all recipient families were adopted over a 10-day period. Several parishioners commented that they really liked this new feature of the program and enjoyed shopping as a family for the recipient families. Volunteer signups were also used this year to encourage social distancing; however, there was no shortage of volunteers who quickly filled time slots to prepare the baskets on Thursday and Friday and streamline the pick-up process on Saturday morning.

As expected, the success of this program depends on financial contributions. Although it has been a difficult year for all, donations hit a record level for the program – over $95,000 was collected! This allowed us to prepare overflowing food baskets for 230 families and also provide each family with a $150 Publix gift card. In addition, a donation of $10,000 was made to GraceWorks to provide badly needed toys for The Manger and other supplies. Your generous gifts of time, talent, and treasure were truly a blessing and very much appreciated as expressed by one of the recipient families:

“Please thank the family again for me that dropped these things off and let them know that because of them and your church, me and my girls will have a great Christmas and dinner. I hope to one day be in a position to donate to your generous program and sponsor a family. I am so full of gratitude and feel so blessed. I pray you are continually blessed and continue to be able to bless others in a time of need.”

On behalf of the Men’s Club, Father Joe, Father Anthony, and the office staff, we would like to thank the parishioners for their generosity in serving those in need during these extraordinary times and sharing the peace and hope of the Christmas season with these families!