Help Feed Local Families This Holiday Season

As the holidays approach, a meal can mean so much more than food on the table. It can offer comfort, connection, and the reminder that a community cares.

This fall, Bethesda Mission is inviting churches, businesses, organizations, and individuals to help provide food for local families through our Blessing the Table Project and Holiday Food Drive.

Blessing the Table

Bethesda Mission’s Blessing the Table project provides 300 Thanksgiving and 300 Christmas meal bags to local families in need. Each bag contains the ingredients families need to prepare a holiday meal together.

You can support Blessing the Table by:

• Collecting individual meal bag ingredients
• Assembling complete holiday meal bags
• Helping sponsor the cost of the bags

Most Needed Items

Blessing the Table Holiday Meal Bag Items

• 8-10 lb frozen ham (Christmas)
• 15-20 lb frozen turkeys (Thanksgiving)
• 40 oz. canned yams
• 13 oz. box instant mashed potatoes
• Gravy packets
• 6 oz. box stuffing
• 15 oz. can corn
• 15 oz. can green beans
• 15 oz. can cranberry sauce
• Box brownie mix

Important Dates for Blessing the Table

Thanksgiving
Donations Due: November 6
Meal Bag Distribution: November 23

Christmas
Donations Due: December 16
Meal Bag Distribution: December 22

Ready to Help?

Whether you fill a collection box, assemble a holiday meal bag, or help sponsor the cost of a meal, your generosity can help make the holidays brighter for families in our community.

It’s more than a meal. It’s an opportunity to share tangible care with a neighbor.

Register today!

Please contact Meredith Ernest at mernest@bethesdamission.org with questions.

Holiday Food Drive 

Help us fill the shelves of Bethesda Mission’s Food Bank by hosting a food drive at your church, business, or organization.

Bethesda Mission will provide the collection boxes. You invite your congregation, employees, or customers to fill them with needed food items.

When your box is full, our Food Bank team will pick it up and you can keep collecting throughout the drive.

Thank you to M&T Bank—our Holiday Food Drive Supporter

Sign Up By: September 30
Food Drive: October 16–December 16

Most Needed Items

• Blessing the Table Holiday Meal Bag Items (as listed above)
• Canned food of any kind
• Pasta
• Pasta sauce
• Peanut butter
• Boxed sides
• Cereal
• Olive oil

Please donate unopened, unexpired items in their original packaging.

Ready to Help?

Click the button below to register your church or organization by September 30.

Food Drop-Off Locations

Bethesda Mission Food Bank
c/o Mission Central
5 Pleasant View Drive
Mechanicsburg, PA

Bethesda Mission Men’s Shelter
611 Reily Street
Harrisburg, PA

M&T Bank
Drop off at branch locations on the West Shore or in the Harrisburg area. Click here for locations near you.

Questions?

Please contact Barb Guarente with any questions at bguarente@bethesdamission.org.