The Reason For Grace Baskets

By Jeanne Voorhees

I was the Director of the Youth Service Bureau for 30 years. One of our several programs was Discovery/ Renew, which now greatly benefits from the GMEC Pumpkin Patch and Grace Baskets Ministries.

Our Grace Basket Ministry at Grace was born many years ago when one of the families served by Discovery/Renew was in crisis. Their children were in danger of being removed by the state because they were not able to provide a clean and safe home environment for them. The case worker was coming soon, and they needed help.  Since I had a few hours available, I went to their home to see if I could help them with the cleaning. When I arrived, I asked if they had a broom. They showed me a handle with a plastic cap on the bottom, which had once held the bristles. There were tiny nubs where the bristles belonged. So I asked if they had a mop, or sponges, or paper towels, or disinfectant, or dishwashing soap - or any kind of soap! Sadly, they had none of those things.  I looked under the kitchen sink, and it was bare. All they had were rags, which were old clothes with holes in them. The only thing I could do at the time was to help them straighten up the house. The staff then purchased the needed supplies and helped the family clean the home. The children were not removed.

These were not lazy people nor neglectful parents- they deeply loved their children. The problem was extreme poverty.

I was the Outreach Ministries Coordinator for Grace at that time, so I brought the problem to Father Paul. Soon thereafter, the Grace Basket Ministry was hatched! Initially, we filled actual laundry baskets full of a wide assortment of cleaning supplies to give to families in this kind of crisis. After many years of trying to carry 20 to 30 heavy, filled laundry baskets, we decided to collect funds and donate them to the program to use as needed for the purchase of cleaning supplies for families in need. It has been a powerful program that has helped many families, giving them the resources, encouragement, and morale boost they needed to tackle the many challenges in their lives with the help of the Renew/Discovery staff.

​In Tangipahoa Parish, 19% of our residents live below the federal poverty line- that’s almost 1 in 5! Those of us who are blessed to have a broom and some soap can deeply bless those who do not, through this powerful ministry.