Boise Rescue Mission to fill bellies and warm hearts with Christmas meals
As we all sit down with loved ones next week and feast on a smorgasbord of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashers, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and pies, it’s important to realize how lucky we are to enjoy a homemade dinner with family at Christmastime.
Even if certain relatives are tolerable for only about the length of meal (wink, wink), we should still feel blessed to be surrounded by good food and folk this time of year.
There are so many who go without.
Fortunately, the Boise Rescue Mission Ministries realizes the situation and plans to serve almost 2,000 free meals to hungry men, women and children during this year’s Christmas Banquets in Boise and Nampa.
“It is truly a blessing to be able to help so many people at Christmas time. Once again the most generous community on the earth will express their compassion through giving, and hundreds of our neighbors will have a beautiful Christmas,” says the Rev. Bill Roscoe, president/CEO of Boise Rescue Mission Ministries.
Anyone looking for a hot meal this Christmas can register to attend. The Boise banquet is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20, at Cathedral of the Rockies, 717 N. 11th St. The Nampa banquet is from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the College Church of the Nazarene, 504 E. Dewey Ave.
In addition to free turkey dinners with all the fixings, approximately 1,200 holiday food boxes will be handed out that contain everything necessary to prepare a second turkey dinner.
Also, children and teens will receive Christmas gifts, many of them courtesy of Toys for Tots.
To register for a holiday food box and/or a meal at a banquet, call 208-338-LIFE (5433).
More bikes needed for Boise Bicycle Project’s Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway
The 13th annual Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway is coming up on Saturday, Dec. 21. It’s a feel-good event at which used bicycles are donated to BBP to be refurbished and transformed into a child’s “dream bike.”
Kids are referred to the project through nonprofit partners — those who are in need of bicycles the most. Those children turn in an application with a drawing of their dream bike, and then BBP prepares them and presents them on Dec. 21, complete with lights, locks and helmet.
They anticipate around 500 kids turning in applications each year. However, this year, 700 turned in the application before the deadline — and they refuse to turn any away, if possible.
So about 100 used bikes are needed before the giveaway.
Drop off your unwanted, gently used bicycles, or bicycle parts, to the BBP, 1027 S. Lusk St., Boise, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday.
No bike? No problem. Those who have access to trucks and trailers can help out by volunteering to transport bikes and run parted-out bikes to the scrap yard.
For more information and additional ways to help, go to boisebicycleproject.org/hkbg2019. For questions, contact Jimmy Hallyburton at 208-859-3984.