Basket of Hope

This is a post about an organization based here in St. Louis that I have gotten to know.

It is called Basket of Hope. It was started by the mother of one of my friends here in St. Louis. My friend has a pretty incredible story, she had cancer when she was 8 years old and spent a year in treatment for it. There were many ups and downs, but in the end the Lord healed her! She is now my age and has a 3 month old baby of her own.

After the experience that they all went through, her mother decided she wanted to help other children and families that were going through the same thing they did. Thus Basket of Hope was born. It was 1995 at the time. Since then Basket of Hope has grown into a large non profit organization that reaches thousands of families, not only in St. Louis.

Here is what they do, given the name you probably guessed there are baskets involved. A basket full of amazing toys, games, cds, movies, mp3 players, really anything you can think of are delivered to the Children in the hospitals. Totes with encouraging books, and Bibles are given to the parents. They don’t stop there though, the volunteers of Basket of hope sit and talk with the families, pray for them, there are even times when Basket of Hope helps the families financially. Sometimes they need hotel rooms, or help with a mortgage, the bills often stack up beyond what one family can handle. Basket of Hope is there to help with that.

Last night was one of their big fund raisers for the year. It was a dinner auction held at a country club. Tyler and I had the awesome opportunity to volunteer with all the work that needed to be done. There were so many things that had been donated for the auction event. There were vacations, gift certificates, Christmas decorations, kitchen appliances, toys, jewelry, dishes, goodie baskets, the list goes on and on. Someone even bought an African Safari! They were able to raise so much money through this event, and everyone had a great evening. There was yummy food, great speakers, and an awesome Jazz band.  I don’t know the final amount that they earned last night, but I have no doubt that the Lord exceeded their expectations. It is just so evident that the Lord has used and is still using this organization love on, and teach his gospel to the masses.

I said previously that Basket of Hope isn’t just in St. Louis anymore. This year for the Super Bowel, Basket of Hope is going to be one of the featured organizations! The week before the Super Bowel, baskets will be delivered to the cities of every NFL team, and the players for that team will be delivering baskets to their hospitals. That’s baskets in every NFL city! Everyone should look for them when watching the Super Bowel. What an exciting thing the Lord has done!

I left last night amazed at how the Lord uses things like cancer to draw people to himself. Basket of Hope as you can probably see isn’t just about giving baskets. The goal is Hope. That those people would know the Lord, feel his love for them, and accept him as their savior. Not necessarily from cancer. But to have the Hope that is Christ in them. The assurance of healing and grace for eternity. What better Hope do we have than that?

Check out their website, and if you have been looking for an organization to give to, or partner with, consider Basket of Hope. Click HERE.

I hope everyone has a great day of rest!

EB