Written by Jim Cronin

The 2008 Thanksgiving season brought 500 members and friends of Abiding Hope Lutheran Church together to assemble 810 boxes of groceries for the needy. The 25-pound boxes, plus a sack of potatoes and a certificate for a turkey, made up Thanksgiving "baskets" totaling more than 20 tons. Extra canned goods and bags of potatoes totaling more than 5,000 pounds were also sent to food banks for distribution to the needy for Thanksgiving.

The remainder of some 14,000 pounds of potatoes donated by Hi Land Potato Co. of Monte Vista went to a Denver inner-city Church and the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The "baskets" served an estimated 4,000-plus people through such agencies as Aurora First United Methodist Church, Bridgeway, Family of Christ, Cristo Rey, Denver Rescue Mission, Sheridan Health Center and InterFaith Task Force.

Members of the congregation also contributed $35 per "basket" to buy the food to fill them. The Thanksgiving Basket Ministry is one of the oldest outreach ministries at Abiding Hope.