Christmas at the Fellowship Cup sees uptick in activity

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Christmas is just around the corner and that means busy times ahead for the staff and volunteers of the Mt. Pleasant Fellowship Cup, and things won?t slow down until the year-end.

?We had great Thanksgiving food distributions,? said Ken Brown, Fellowship Cup director. ?Now, we are gearing up for Christmas distributions and those distributions are always our biggest.?

During Christmas distributions, individuals may come to the Fellowship Cup and pick up their choice of a main course meat such as turkey, and all the trimmings like mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and so on.

?In the recent years, we?ve had to get creative with some of the foods we offer,? says Brown, saying that many regular Fellowship Cup clients may not have ovens or stovetops to cook a traditional Christmas meal. ?Meats like boneless chicken breasts, or other main dishes that can be cooked in a crock pot are popular with a lot of our clients as it fits in more with what they have the capability of utilizing.?

With the growing number of clients that the Fellowship Cup sees, and many of their needs unique, Brown says the way that the Fellowship Cup works to assist families in need, especially during the holidays, is always changing.

This year, there are Christmas food distributions at the Fellowship Cup, including one on Saturday, Dec. 17, which will be held from 10 a.m. to noon. Those wishing to take part in that must sign up and report to the Fellowship Cup at a designated time to claim their food box.

?We do that now because of the amount of people we serve,? Brown explained. ?We try not to have people waiting in line for longs periods of time and designating times for each person to pick up their food box helps in that.?

According to Brown, the Henry County community has always been very generous with donating non-perishable food items to the Fellowship Cup?s food bank, and says such gifts are still greatly appreciated.

?We get great support from local churches, businesses, humanitarian organizations, and other anonymous private citizens,? said Brown. ?And the fact that we try to accommodate the amount of food we give out to each family?s size is a challenge. So having a range of food options is really something that donors in this area have blessed us with.?

Also taking place during the Dec. 17 food distribution day will be the Angel Tree gift distribution. This year, the Fellowship Cup will give Christmas gifts to well over 200 children, from about 90 different families, with the help of local donors.

As part of the Angel Tree program, the Fellowship Cup compiles the names of children in need in the local area and assigns each child to a local donor who may buy age and gender specific Christmas gifts for him or her, which are then given to the proper family on Dec. 17, as part of the food distribution event.

?Obviously, 200 kids or more is a lot, so any child that we have assigned to the program that doesn?t get an outside gift donor assigned to them, the Fellowship Cup will provide gifts for that child,? Brown said. ?No child in the program gets left out. We want every child to have something to open on Christmas.?

For Brown, while he admits that Christmas is a hectic time for him and his volunteers, he says it?s rewarding to know needs are being met.

And although the Fellowship Cup does help hundreds of families over the holidays, Brown knows their services can only extend so far. In the event that families need additional services than what the Fellowship Cup can provide, Brown says the generosity of other organizations in Henry County are always quick to jump in and help.

?Christmas is the time of the year that we see the most need, and it?s also the time of year that we see people who come to us that don?t normally come to us at any other time of the year,? Brown says. ?We try to help as many as we can because we do love people, but Henry County in general is just a very giving place and there are always people willing to lend a hand, which is great.?

For more information on the services provided by the Fellowship Cup, call 319-385-3242.