Saint Mary parishioners and volunteers teamed up to give the less fortunate much to be thankful for during the parish’s annual Thanksgiving food drive.
Boxes filled with non-perishable food items lined the walls of the Church hall on Sunday morning, brought in by generous parishioners on their way to Mass.
A team of volunteers spent the morning sorting and boxing the food items before using some elbow grease to load the boxes onto trucks going to various charities.
The charities included The Spanish Center in Joliet, the Warren-Sharpe Community Center in Joliet, the Frankfort Food Pantry, the Franciscan Mission in Hopkins Park, and the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Lawrence O’Toole parish in Matteson.
The Thanksgiving food drive has been an annual tradition at St. Mary for many years. Children, teens, and adults volunteer, knowing that the service they provide has a direct impact on feeding the hungry, as Christ commanded all of us to do.
Once the last box of food had been loaded onto a truck, one of the volunteers told the others, “If you feel a little heavier now, it’s because you have received extra grace from God for volunteering.”
The same goes for the generous parishioners who donated all of the food. Thank you to everyone who made the 2018 Thanksgiving food drive a great success!
The Mokena Marian 
I feel good that we can help the homeless in our community with the Thanksgiving and Christmas gift drive. Also, i feel good because we gave to waterleaf to help with abortions and gave diaper’s to their annual diaper drive in November.
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