Holiday Helpings Starts Monday - sign up your group today!

*UPDATE: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to kick-off Holiday Helpings at the Northwest Center on Monday, November 1st at 9:30am!*

Here it comes! Holiday Helpings starts next week.

Our pantry is packed with special holiday provisions -- stuffing, canned yams, cranberry sauce, and of course: turkeys!

On Monday, we'll see a line out the door as the first rush of people come bright and early to claim their Holiday Helpings package. We're able to be there for these people -- and for the thousands more who will turn to us in the next two months -- because of the incredible generosity of people like you.

In order to meet this year's goal of distributing 8,000 holiday meals in the next 8 weeks, we need your help.

The great thing about Holiday Helpings is the way that everyone chips in together. The bulk of our food and financial contributions come through the efforts of individuals who turn to their own communities -- be they workplaces, schools, civic associations, apartment buildings or private businesses -- to bring friends and colleagues into the act.

It's not too late to sign up your community group to join in Holiday Helpings right along with us!

In just the past week, 5 groups have signed up to run Holiday Helpings cash and food drives. If we can sign up 5 more by next week, we'll have 30 groups participating -- our highest number ever!

Some of our groups include:

• Dickstein Shapiro LLP
• American College of Physicians
• Kenyon Square Condominium Board
• WilmerHale LLP
  

Some groups round up box after box of food for our pantry. Some groups focus on raising money, since it's sometimes easier to just bring a checkbook than a bag of groceries. This year, we're encouraging groups to round up reusable bags along with their other donations. (Please know that 100% of the money we receive for Holiday Helpings goes directly to our food pantry. And, because we can purchase food in bulk--at greatly reduced prices--we can stretch a dollar much farther than you can at a grocery store.)

However Holiday Helpings happens, we hear all the time that folks find it to be an easy, fun, and rewarding way to share their holiday spirit with those in need.

So can we count on your support? You can email me or call me at 202.386.7611. I'm happy to answer any questions, brainstorm ideas, or just pass along our very simple set of guidelines.

And, of course, the most immediate way to support Holiday Helpings is to make a donation directly. Just $29 will provide Holiday Helpings to a family of four — and we want to provide for more than 8,000 families, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us! Please give today.

Here come the Holidays. Thank you for making them happen!