October Newsletter
How to make a blessing bag for our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters
Miracles have landed! Last week Naomi delivered 65 snack packs, cans of soup, and bottles of water to Tent City Helpers of Martin Country. We also brought them several packages of underwear.
How to make a blessing bag for the homeless. This has become a signature project of The MC. We have made many improvements since we started making these bags at my kitchen table in early 2025. The earliest bags contained beef jerky and trail mix. Not only is beef jerky expensive in a cost per calorie sense but we also quickly learned that nearly all of our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters have dental problems, except perhaps for the newly homeless. Things like vienna sausages and small peanut butters are better choices. We have since learned that food is by far the most pressing concern for this group of people.
To create your own miracle, start with a gallon sized slider bag. We use the slider style bags with the thought that these types of bags are more helpful after the food is gone than the zip lock styles and easier to reuse for something else. I am just a Course in Miracles teacher not a nutritionist but I am under the impression that protein is the basic nutrient that is needed the most in these bags so we add:
-a can of vienna sausages
-a tin of sardines
-a small 1.5 oz. peanut butter
-a foil tuna packet
The earliest bags had those little boxes of tuna crackers. By our third rodeo with this project we learned that if you buy the tuna foil packet and put in your own spoon and shorty sleeve of crackers the recipient of the bag gets a lot more food. Next we add:
- A plastic spoon
- An individually wrapped wet wipe
- 3 instant coffee packets
- A fruit cup packed in juice
- A squeezable apple sauce
Because lack of dental care is a real issue for the homeless please avoid adding things with too much sugar. Next we add:
-a chewy granola bar (avoid the hard ones)
-a cereal bar
-a package of cheese crackers
-a package of peanut butter crackers
-a shorty sleeve of Ritz
-a shorty sleeve of saltines
This fills up the slider bags. Then we put our snack packs into a grocery bag with:
-a can of ready to eat soup, stew, or pasta with a pop off lid. Avoid items that need can openers.
-a juice
-a bottle of water
-a note of encouragement
It is very endearing to learn that after the food in these bags are gone people frequently keep the note of encouragement to reread later. Our different scribes put different notes into these bags but we avoid using words like Jesus and God because they can be easily misunderstood. A sample note might say, “I hope this makes your day better. Have hope!” We use inexpensive paper cut outs that we buy in bulk for these notes. We have started to add a tiny plastic Jesus to our bags at The MC because it gives people hope and has oddly become our most beloved give away. This is for sure an optional item.
What do you do with a blessing bag after it is made? Many of us keep two of these bags in the back seat of our cars behind the driver seat. If we see someone begging on the corner, we hand the whole bag out the car window. Many more of these bags go to our commUNITY partners who get out there and feed the homeless. Before making bags for a charity in your neck of the woods you should get in touch with them to see what their needs and guidelines are.
Miracles are ordinary acts of love. Making a blessing bag is a simple and inexpensive way of performing a miracle. We make bags like this every month at The MC. There is a huge need for bags like this on Florida’s Treasure Coast. I would suggest starting small by making a dozen at your kitchen table and enlisting a friend to help.
Bring a miracle into the world today even if it means simply smiling at a stranger. I hope to see you at The MC soon.
Love and Rowdy Blessings,
Jess
