by Noella Noelophile®
The baskets are ready and waiting.
Long Beach nonprofit “Operation Easter Basket” is about to make this Easter special for disadvantaged youth, and they’d like your help as they come into the homestretch.
They’ve purchased 4,000 Easter baskets, wholesale. Now, they’d like to ask you and your friends, colleagues or family to come pick up a couple and help fill them.
Baskets (or reusable buckets, such as sand pails) are available for pickup at Bay Shore Church’s office, at 5100 East The Toledo, at Granada.
Now, what to put in the baskets? Well, that depends on the age group you choose (birth to two years; two to four years: five to seven years; eight to ten years; eleven to thirteen; or fourteen to sixteen). And please attach a note to the basket handle, stating whether the gift is for a boy or a girl.
Then–have fun! According to Operation Easter Basket’s “wish list” on their Facebook page, basket items should add up to between twenty and twenty-five dollars, and include shampoo, toothpaste, socks, underwear…
Okay, okay. Those are just the essentials. NOW you get to add the “good stuff”–art supplies, stickers, school supplies, small toys. And, of course, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks!
In the past, from our observations, baskets for boys, ages fourteen to sixteen, have been far more sparse than those for the younger age groups, so creating some of these might be a thought. Or, if you’d like to help Operation Easter Basket but just don’t have time this year, they’d also love to have cash donations–volunteers will put the baskets together for you.
Completed baskets may be dropped at Bay Shore Church, from 9 am to 6 pm next Thursday, April 2 (can you believe it’s almost April, already?).or Friday, April 3, from 9 am to 4 pm. The goal is two thousand baskets for needy families this year–and if they surpass that number, as has happened in the past, that’s that many more smiles on Easter morning.
And you may just want to get there early and stay awhile, on either Thursday or Friday. They can use volunteers, to help assemble and load the baskets for pickup by local nonprofits. Speaking from experience, this is a blast, as a great community welcomes springtime with a lot of warmth and giving.
Would you like to volunteer for the eleventh annual “Operation Easter Basket”? According to their Facebook page, they still need people who can commit to donating baskets, posting on social media and volunteering at least two hours at Bay Shore Church, either next Thursday or Friday. RSVP to Justin@JustinRudd.com.