Our annual food drive has become a special start to the holiday season for our family.  It is a family tradition that helps us focus on our blessings and give back to the community.  Our kids are excited to be involved and we hope it inspires generosity in their hearts throughout their lives.  This year’s food drive has ended and we once again wanted to thank all of you who donated and participated.  It is awesome to know that it has become an annual tradition for some of you as well!

We offered mini sessions in exchange for gift card donations this year and some of those mini session images are already on the blog.  With the gift cards and with other donations given by friends and neighbors, we were able to donate just over 1100 food items to the local food pantry!  They had told us that food had been flying off of the shelves and they were concerned about having enough for the holidays this year.  It was wonderful to be able to fill some of their shelves again!

It can be overwhelming when you think of how widespread the problem of hunger is in the U.S.  One in six Americans suffer from food insecurity, and last year more than 13 million children went hungry.  It is easy to think that anything you do won’t even make a difference.  But we are inspired by Mother’s Teresa’s advice:  “Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love.”  We hope the people who are helped through this food feel that love and hopefulness.

“Do Small Things With Great Love.” – Mother Teresa

(This is to show how big the letters were!  The letter “W” in “with” had 59 cans alone!  The word “Great” had 265 cans!)