NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Throughout the year, Western New York families in need receive Boxes of Hope.
It's a partnership between a group of churches, schools, and community groups, and the Box of Hope program is our Most Buffalo Story of the Day.
"We find that the need doesn't know an hour of operation. We know that there's people in our city that are hungry all the time. We wanted to make as much as we could accessible 24/7 within walking distance of the avenues," said Pastor Chad Rieselman, Lumber City Church.
Pastor Chad Rieselman with Lumber City Church in North Tonawanda wants his church to connect people - people in need with the people who want to help.
"Those needs are sometimes day-to-day, sometimes week-to-week, and sometimes in those, you know, levels of society and the folks we are reaching, some of them have just enough hope to take some big steps like vehicle ownership and home ownership, and we're there to help with those things as well," said Pastor Chad Rieselman.
That's where the Box of Hope program comes in. Year-round it's filling little pantries around the city, and by delivering boxes, making sure kids have school supplies, and families have food and clothes.
"The thing that really is important to us is that there's a box of food in that house during the Christmas break because there's no school lunch or breakfast programs. So putting all those things together, we knew we needed to go deeper into a system of making sure that those needs are met," said Pastor Chad Rieselman.
This month, there's a focus on Christmas gifts. Sponsors get a list of all of the children in the household along with their gift preferences and sizes.
"We've giving them not just an opportunity to give financially, but to get engaged. To go shopping. To think about the folks that they're serving. To think about the sizes of their clothes. To think about these children, and then go an actually make that connection, contact, delivery to them. Make that delivery so it's not just goods and services and resources, but we're actually giving people opportunity to love their neighbor. We've seen some amazing things that go beyond. We have some families that no longer need to enroll because we've got some families in North Tonawanda who have taken them as their own, and they sponsor them without those folks ever having to enroll," said Pastor Chad Rieselman.
Around 150 families need help this year. That includes hundreds of children. More than one-hundred sponsors have signed up.
For those who can't deliver the boxes themselves, the police and fire departments step up.
"Imagine what it's like for a kid who is living a tough life day-to-day and the police show up with gifts and food for that household. So it's just another way of, you know, tightening the weave of community in North Tonawanda and allowing for folks to see that people do care," said Pastor Chad Rieselman.
They have about a dozen families that still need sponsors.
Learn more here openaboxofhope.org/northtonawanda
