Love Basket Day

Paques ready to go!
Today we distributed the Love Baskets after the Holy Eucharist and Healing service. We distributed 100 paques. Each paque contained:


1 can fruit juice; 1 can mixed vegetables; 1 can tuna; 1 bottle vegetable oil; 1 bag lentils; 1 bag macaroni; 1 box tea; 1 lb. coffee; 1 pkg. mayonnaise; 2 lbs sugar; 1 lb. corn meal; 2 lbs. rice; 1/2 dz. eggs;
1 bag containing onions, garlic, potatoes, (and I think some apples, but I’m not sure) 1 small cake; and one whole chicken (I believe that I have listed the contents correctly), all the necessary ingredients for a great Christmas Dinner, Panamanian Style! I think we did quite well! We raised some $1200.00, and all of it came from the congregation; we didn’t receive any donations of food from groceries stores and food distributors as we have in the past. Our parish serves the neighborhoods of Rio Abajo and Parque Lefevre, and there is quite a lot of poverty surrounding us, due to the economic depression in Panamá since the revision of the Canal to Panamá. Most of the members of our congregation are retired Canal Workers, so they are on fixed incomes, but they are all so generous and never refuse any request to help others. I want to congratulate Ms. Roxanna Olton, Ms. Elfrida Beckford and all the women of the ECW, as well as all the folks who helped pack and distribute the paques. I also want to congratulate and thank the youth who participated this year packing and distributing paques. This is the 29th year of the Love Basket Program, and it is an outreach project of which our parish can be quite proud. I was ready to take many photos of the participants and recipients, but the batteries on the camera expired after three shots. Oh well, better luck next year!

Some folks in this group will distribute paques, and others will receive paques.