Greetings from Denver Rescue Mission and Happy Thanksgiving to you!
It has made a significant difference to have you, this community’s devoted supporters, by our side as we feed and engage with our hungry and lonely neighbors. Thanks to your steadfast support and donations to the Mission, we have been able to make it thus far. We are incredibly appreciative and fortunate to have your faithful partnership in servicing our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
2022 Turkey Drive
Every year, we collaborate with donors and volunteers like you to gather thousands of turkeys to help people in need celebrate the holidays. Below, you can see more about our Thanksgiving Banquet-in-a-Box event, but we also use the turkeys to provide comfort and hope to those in need through meals throughout the holiday season. We also partnered with 140 different churches, schools and other nonprofits to provide a Thanksgiving meal to people throughout our city. We are especially thankful for donors like you, who together contributed more than 10,000 turkeys this year.
Your Thanksgiving donations and support enable us to help individuals and families at the Mission change their lives. Working together as a community has made our mission of bringing people out of homelessness and into self-sufficiency feasible.
Fundraisers Change Lives
You have the chance to do more to further our cause at the Mission. One of the unique features of our Turkey Drive is the opportunity for supporters like you to start your very own fundraiser to raise money with your friends and family.
This year, Fundraisers and their supporters raised more than $10,000 for the Turkey Drive.
Thanksgiving Banquet-in-a-Box
At this year’s Thanksgiving Banquet-in-a-Box, the weather was beautiful. We provided Thanksgiving meals for individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Everyone who attended the event at Empower Field at Mile High on Tuesday, November 22 left with a smile on their face, a turkey and a box of traditional Thanksgiving feast items. We distributed a total of 2,919 Thanksgiving boxes!
“The best part about Thanksgiving for us is gratitude and giving thanks, and what better way to give thanks for all the things we have than to help the people who maybe don’t have as much or are having a tough time right now. It was a great thing for us to be able to do together as a family too.”
James, Thanksgiving Banquet-in-a-Box Volunteer
James and his daughter, Gracie, volunteered with us at our Thanksgiving Banquet in a box event. Gracie said, “I liked it because I got to run to cars and give out turkeys and see all the happy faces on people.”
We could not have done any of this without your donations and support, for which we are grateful.
Our Table Runneth Over
Thanksgiving can be difficult for our neighbors experiencing homelessness because it is typically a time when they are attempting to withstand the frequently severe weather in Colorado while also trying to acquire food for themselves or their families. We must do our part to make sure that those experiencing homelessness have a warm dinner to savor or share with their friends or loved ones this Thanksgiving.
Our Thanksgiving banquets at the Lawrence Street Community Center, 48th Avenue Center and The Crossing catered to men, women and families experiencing homelessness. Thanks to our team of chefs, everyone ate their fill of traditional Thanksgiving food like turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.
Thanks to donors like you, we were able to provide more than 900 Thanksgiving meals in total.
Thank you to Our Volunteers for Serving With Us
“This is my first Thanksgiving in six years. This is awesome because for one it tells me that I’m not in the cold, I’m not in a car. I’m around people that actually care. To me it’s really special because I miss my family. I was always kind of jealous that everybody was around family, but this is my family now and so I give thanks for that. What goes up must come down and it came down hard on me, but now I’m on my way back up thanks to the program and Denver Rescue Mission.”
Michael, New Life Program participant
This Thanksgiving, you made it possible for us to offer more than simply food. You have given people who most needed it a reason to smile and a reason to hope. We appreciate your support in helping us transform lives in the name of Christ this Thanksgiving and all others to come. Above all, we are grateful, thankful and blessed to have your support.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Written by: Rebecca Nzerem, PR and Events Intern
