Volunteers all across the country are coming together to make Easter baskets and hand them out to children and families in need ahead of Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of God’s Son Jesus and the gift of salvation and eternal life.
Some of the volunteers have worked via the Family Renewal Initiative’s (FRI) Easter Basket Project. In West Virginia’s Martinsburg, churchgoers put together over 100 Easter baskets aimed to spread the Gospel to children.
“We’re trying to reach out to the local community, getting the Gospel into kids’ hands,” one woman putting together baskets at Independent Bible Church said, according to The Journal. “We want to love on the kids in our community.”
FRI Executive Director Cassidy Morris explained that the baskets will go to families that cannot provide baskets for their children.
“They got referred to us by organizations from Jefferson County, Berkeley County, and Morgan County, like the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center, Birthright and other organizations that provide support to families in need,” Morris said.
The outlet reported:
The basket was one of 115 being put together as part of Family Renewal Initiative’s (FRI) Easter Basket Project. For the Lemaster family, whose patriarch pastors Kearneysville Bible Church, the activity was an opportunity to share their faith along with their tradition of opening Easter baskets on Easter Sunday.
Volunteers in Spirit Lake, Iowa, are also spreading joy, working with Hope Haven to assemble Easter baskets for not only children in need but seniors who may be alone for the holiday. They have also put out thousands of eggs for a “community” Easter egg hunt taking place on Saturday.
“I’m really big on getting the community together,” organizer Diane Esch said. “We had Hope Haven step up and help us out which is huge. We just did a hundred and some baskets within a half hour. Just trying to get the community together and helping where it is needed and having a little fun while doing it.”
Back on the East Coast in Rhode Island, another group of volunteers put together 800 Easter baskets for people in need. The group, Community Angels, is a local non-profit working to “bring joy to families across the state, primarily around the holidays,” according to WJAR.
“This is an organization that my late mom, Laura Rodriguez, started and it’s made up of all of her friends from the community, elected officials, corporations, foundations,” Carol Aguasvivas, president of Community Angels, told the outlet.
She added, “The fact we’re able to continue my mother’s work, the fact that all of her friends and volunteers and sponsors have been with us most for over 17 years, it makes us very proud and happy to be able to do this work.”
She explained that they give the baskets out at community events open to all.
She said, “They don’t have to register, it’s just open to all communities to attend, kind of like a grab-and-go event,” she added. “Every year when we make Easter baskets it’s thanks to our amazing sponsors that make our work possible. The Elisha Project, De Ramel Foundation, among other elected officials that play a part in what we do.”
This theme is consistent throughout the U.S. as volunteers from the East to West Coast work to remind Americans that they are not alone and are loved — not just by their fellow Americans but their Creator Himself.
