When I asked my youngest what he thought we should add to our Pray-Fast-Give chain this year for fasting, one of his first answers was, "Buy food to put it in bags for the homeless."
I knew right away why he had said it.
Last Sunday, as we were on our way home from Mass, we pulled up at a stoplight where a homeless gentleman was standing. It was cold, and we had a blanket in the car, so we handed it out the window to the man, but, sadly, did not have any food, warm socks, or other things on hand to gift him.
So it is that, as a part of our Lenten practices, we are hoping to repeat a Works of Mercy effort that some of our homeschool friends and us got together for during Advent: Making Blessing Bags!
Then, upon arrival at the host house, we set up a "buffet" table of sorts with piles of 25 of each item.
Younger children went in another room and made hand drawn cards and pictures to include in the bags, while older children and parents each stood behind a pile and we passed a bag from one to another, filling it assembly-line style.
It took less than an hour to assemble all the bags, inclusive of the time it took to reassemble the few bags which had zippers break or were just not closing due to the way that space-taking items such as a bottle of water, thick socks, and foot warmers had been put in amongst smaller items.
So, making Blessing Bags truly proved to be a simple project that brought us together as a homeschool community to prepare to help our larger community.
We hope to have another Blessing Bag get together this Lent and encourage you to try it with family or friends.
Among the things in ours, were all the things pictured below, plus tuna and crackers and water.
We pray this idea inspires you in your almsgiving and would appreicate hearing your ideas, too!
