Peterborough’s United Methodist Church is again collecting donations for Easter baskets, a program that the church’s administrative assistant Melissa French said would be more important than ever this year.
The baskets are donated to local transitional housing shelters, which French said are full of more families than ever due to the intense housing market.
“This year, the housing is so tight that people are staying a lot longer,” she said. “There’s nowhere for them to go.”
The Easter basket program started in 2016, she said, after the church saw a community need.
“Nobody was doing baskets for the kids at Easter,” French said. “Lots of people in the area help at Christmastime, but we knew how much the kids need something special — not just at Christmastime — and how hard it is for those parents to do anything.”
Community members wishing to donate should be on the lookout for Easter candy, stickers, small toys, and books. Donations can be left in the bin at the bottom of the church ramp, or in a box inside the hall if the church is open. The church is collecting for 20 children, ranging in age from infancy to 13. Baskets will be delivered to the Monadnock Area Transitional Shelter, Shelter From The Storm and New Life Home. Donations will remain open until April 10, Palm Sunday.
“It just makes the kids so happy,” French said. “It’s always nice to help the kids and we always give them enough to have an Easter that feels normal, and it helps them to have a sense of normalcy in a time that doesn’t give them a lot of that. The community has been really great.”
For information, visit the church’s website at peterboroughumc.org/easter-baskets-2022.