Easter Basket Workshop

Christmas presents come from many places to those in need. However, Easter is just as hard, for some families. An Easter Basket workshop helps families in need make their own basket for their children. Parents are given a plastic grocery bag for each child. They pick out small toys, stuffed animals and candy for each child. As they leave they pick up Easter Baskets and take everything home and put them together. Easter Basket workshops are best done while children are in school. In 2009, Kokomo Urban Outreach distributed over 500 baskets.

Valentine's Day

So many children in hard economic times do not have the money to buy a box of Valentines. At Kokomo Urban Outreach volunteers purchase Valentines after Valentines day for a much reduced cost they are saved and given to children in need the following year. It saves children from the embarrassment of not having a box. It is cheap and brings a smile and a sense of relief to children in need.

Christmas Day Blitz

Christmas Day can be a joy to some and very hard for others. A Christmas Day Neighborhood Blitz is a way to check on neighbors on Christmas Day. Sack lunches or bags of cookies could be delivered door to door. A simple, "we were thinking of you and wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas" is about all that needs to be said. At Kokomo Urban Outreach we add, "How is your Christmas going?" We find about 10% of the families we visit are struggling one way or another. Usually we find single persons alone. We have small wrapped Christmas presents with us that help us brighten the day. In 2008, KUO knocked on 800 doors, we found 500 home and left behind 800 sack lunches and about 50 presents. The key to this is to start small.