Juice Box Drive
The Summer Lunch Program at Village of Hope provides bag lunches to children, the elderly, and others in need during the summer. Approximately 400 bags are assembled by volunteers on Sunday/delivered on Monday that are meant to last the week. The lunches include sandwiches, snacks, and a drink. Our mission is to collect juice boxes/pouches that will go into these lunches. Our goal is to supply enough for 1 week, which is 2,000 boxes/pouches of juice.
Village of Hope has several programs, and there are several missions in our community to be a part of – so why this one? It was started by Cheryl Adams a few years ago. She talked with staff at Village of Hope about their summer lunch program and learned that the juice boxes were hard to come by. They had other sponsors like
Publix donating bread, etc., but not juice boxes. Cheryl presented their need to Disciples Women (then CWF) and the group agreed to make the juice boxes one of our missions.
Village of Hope isn’t looking for just anyone to feed – they are feeding some of the poorest and hungriest of our neighbors, some of whom are even considered homeless. Children are provided meals at school during the school year but often go without during the summer break. We give to this mission because it was decided long ago that we can. It sounds simple because it is. If we have the means to feed someone, we feed them. That is just who we are. We do not try to decide if they need it or if they are as destitute as we are told. We just feed them. Or, in this case, provide them with juice. This may be the closest thing any of these recipients get to fresh fruit. It may be the only way to bring up low blood sugar in a diabetic. We do not know the extent of their need or their circumstances, we just know there is a need we can fill so we do.
Our juice box drive for the Village of Hope is underway. In 2023, we were able to provide the VOH with 10,000 boxes of juice, and, with your help, hope to do it again in 2024!
Be mindful of the sell-by date, which must be June or later.
Boxes must remain sealed; open boxes will be discarded.
Please look for the lowest box count you can find. Because the boxes cannot be opened, 8-count and 10-count boxes are handed out for the week to a single person.
All juice boxes should be kept in your Sunday School classroom. No Sunday School? Now is a good time to start or just pick a class to drop off your drinks. Alternatively, you may leave your boxes of juice in the Small Fellowship Hall.
The classroom with the most juice boxes will win bragging rights!
The juice box drive will end May 26th.
Monetary donations are welcome. Just write “juice box drive” on your giving envelope, check, or on-line donation. Please also be sure to write which classroom the donation should be applied to. At the end of the drive, Rose and her team will go shopping for the juice boxes with the donated funds before scheduling the pick-up with the Village of Hope
Please see Rose Barrett or Yosmin Andrews with any questions or ways to get involved with this wonderful mission! For more information about this and other programs by the Village of Hope, please visit their website at https://www.vohlv.org/our-programs.
