Skip to main content

Thanksgiving 2023

Thanksgiving Community Food Ministry

Each Thanksgiving, we join with other local churches and organizations to provide over 1,000 boxes of food to families in our community and city.  With the help of other supporting churches and agencies, the goal in 2023, is to provide boxes of food, fresh produces, and frozen turkeys for 1,150 families this Thanksgiving.

Within the larger effort, Pearce’s specific goal is to provide 245 Adopt-a-Boxes and raise $5000 for turkeys. Read below to learn how you can join us as we help make Thanksgiving meaningful for families in our community during these difficult times.

Play Video

2023 Thanksgiving Community Food Ministry Video

Committed Adopt-A-Box Donations

ADOPT-A-BOX

Pearce is asked to fulfill 245 “Adopt-a-Box” donations—an entire box filled with the needed food items. Adopt-a-Box donations can be dropped off at the church before or after any weekend worship service or weekdays from 6:30am-6pm, through Sunday, November 12. As you enter the building using door #1 or #7, place boxes on the cart across from the Family Life Center (gym).  It is best to use a copy paper box or a similar size.

ADOPT-A-BOX Shopping List:

  • 1 can of soup
  • 1 can of green beans
  • 1 can of corn
  • 1 additional canned vegetable
  • 2 cans of fruit
  • 1 can of yams
  • 1 can/jar of applesauce
  • 1 can of cranberry sauce
  • 1 box of stuffing
  • 2 cans of tuna or  1 container each of peanut butter & jelly
  • 1 box of spaghetti
  • 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
  • 1 box of mac and cheese
  • 1 pancake mix or breakfast cereal
  • 1 box of instant potatoes
  • 1 box of jello gelatin
  • 1 dessert (cake or brownie mix)

HELP MOVE FOOD & BOXES TO THE FLC

Saturday, November 11 at 6pm and Sunday, November 12 at 12:15pm  – come to Pearce’s main lobby and help us move donated food items, adopt-a-boxes, and empty boxes from various storage areas, to the Family Life Center where everything will be organized and packed.

HELP PACK BOXES

Thursday, November 16 at 9:30am  – come to the Family Life Center  (gym) and help us pack over 800 Thanksgiving boxes, starting at 9:30am until all boxes are packed (typically 1-2 hours).

Financial Donations - Turkeys

FINANCIAL DONATIONS

A frozen turkey is included in every food box. You can make a financial donation to Pearce Church to help us purchase those turkeys. This year Pearce is asked to raise $5,000. Place a check in the offering box as you leave a worship service, drop a check in the mail or our outdoor dropbox (just outside the café entrance #7). Make checks out to Pearce Church with “Thanksgiving Food Ministry” on the memo line. You can also give online: click the “Pearce Church Online Giving” link on the Giving page of our website and choose “Thanksgiving Food Baskets” from the “Fund” drop-down menu.

PRAY

We appreciate your prayers! Pray for food and financial donations to meet or exceed our goal of 1,150 food boxes. Pray for those who are giving of their time and resources to make this ministry happen. Pray for those who will receive the food boxes, that through this simple act of kindness, they would know how much God loves them and cares for them.

Empty Boxes

EMPTY BOXES

Bring empty boxes to Pearce  – a copy paper box is the ideal size and can be used for Adopt-a-Box donations.   At this time, we have all the empty boxes we need!   

Want to learn more? Fill out this form and we’ll get back to you soon.

Special thanks to the network of food donations and volunteers from the following organizations:

  • Pearce Church
  • Foodlink
  • Browncroft Community Church
  • Greece & Webster schools
  • The Charles Finney school
  • Rochester Family Mission and neighborhoods
  • Roberts Wesleyan University
“

A single mom of two had recently moved to the Rochester area. She was expecting a check in the mail to get them through their first month here. As time went by, their food ran out and the check still hadn't come. She prayed to God for help. She didn't know it, but someone had put her name on our list to receive a Thanksgiving box. When that box was delivered, she began sobbing and praising God for answering her prayers. She now had enough food to feed her family for at least one week!

“

A disabled man was sitting in a chair in his apartment. Aside from his chair and a mattress on the floor, the apartment was empty. When the box of food was delivered, he was very appreciative. He knew that his wife would be grateful, too, but she was out working at the time. Her job was to collect cans every day and turn them into the store. That simple box of food met a real need.

“

One woman received a box because someone had submitted her name. When the box was delivered, she began crying. She actually had food, but her husband had passed away the month before and this was such a beautiful act of kindness. She knew others cared about her, and she would not forget that.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
1