Christmas in August
Are you looking for a missions project for the people in your church or small group? Are you looking for a way to support missionaries as a family or individual?
Christmas in August provides a simple way you can directly help North American Mission Board missionaries by sending them supplies they need for their ministries. Most often, these are supplies that are needed in bulk.
How Christmas in August Works
Every year WMU and the North American Mission Board partner to select missionaries who will be featured in Christmas in August.
The missionaries provide a list of items they need for ministry and outreach, and the lists of requested items are posted online.
And then you — as an individual, family, small group, missions group, or church — select a missionary (or two or three) and purchase and send the items to the missionary.
The Christmas in August Experience
As with many Christian ministries, Christmas in August is more than just a random act of giving. And as a ministry of WMU, Christmas in August of course includes learning about and praying for missionaries along with supporting them! (Click here for more about why we do what we do.)
While many individuals support missionaries through Christmas in August, lots of families and children’s groups such as Mission Friends, Girls in Action, Royal Ambassadors, Children in Action, and others participate as a group activity.
The collective effort to purchase and gather the items, pack them, include notes of encouragement, and pray over them is all part of a meaningful opportunity to learn about, pray for, and support a missionary.
No matter how a person or group approaches Christmas in August, it’s sure to be a blessing to the missionaries as they seek to impact their community with the gospel.
We are grateful for missions advocates like you who are a part of such endeavors!
Missionary Testimonials
Planning a Christmas in August Group Experience
Need some ideas for how to plan and organize Christmas in August for your group? Here’s a plan you can use or adapt for your circumstances:
- Pray. Begin with a time of prayer for your Christmas in August project.
- Choose. Select the missionary or missionaries you will gather supplies for and decide which supplies you will gather. You may send several of the same item, a few of the items, or some of all of the items.
- Promote. Tell others about your project, including your family, friends, church family and colleagues. Send out a list of the items you are collecting. Share when and where to leave the gifts. Get creative as you promote Christmas in August; use social media accounts, post on your church’s website, ask for a special announcement, and place the information in your church bulletins and programs. Some churches put up Christmas trees, place cards with the requested items on the trees, and invite their members to select an item from the tree.
- Gather. Storage can be a problem for some missionaries, so please send only those items specified on their list. Send new items only. You don’t have to include everything on the list because other churches are collecting items, too.
- Pack. Gather the items your group collects and pack them for shipping. Consider placing items that could leak inside plastic sealable bags. Please don’t wrap the items, as this creates more work for the missionaries.
- Organize. To help missionaries sort through packages more quickly, label the outside of the package with the names of the items inside.
- Prepare. Address your package to the missionary at the address listed.
- Write. Be sure to write a note of encouragement or prayer for the missionary. Give the missionary your email address, in case he has time to respond. Please explain to others involved in your project that the missionaries may receive hundreds of packages, so they often do not have time to respond to each group individually. Assure others that the missionaries are very grateful for their gifts.
- Mail. Find out the exact postage needed pay for your box or boxes. If you are mailing a package to a missionary in Canada, take note of the special instructions below.
- Pray (again). Pray for the missionaries, their ministries and the people they serve. Pray over the items before you mail them. Pray that the missionaries can use your items to reach people with the gospel message.
For ideas specific to involving preschool groups, check out the following:
How to Involve Preschoolers in Christmas in August
For ideas specific to involving children’s groups, check out the following:
Children’s Christmas in August Timeline Game, 2024 Edition (PDF)
Packaging and Mailing
- Note any particular packaging needs any mentioned by a missionary.
- If you send your package by regular US mail, be sure to have the package weighed at the post office and have the proper postage affixed. (You don’t want the missionary to have to pay postage-due charges on your gift!)
- If you send the package by United Parcel Service (UPS), use the physical street address. UPS will not deliver to a post office box.
- If mailing to Canada: Please send via US Parcel Post. Do not send via UPS, FedEx, or other courier service as they will charge customs fees to send to Canada. Complete a Customs Declaration Form at the post office when you ship your box. On the form is a box that needs to be checked: Gift. By doing this, the missionary is not required to pay any fees upon the boxes’ arrival. Visit usps.com for more information.
2024 Christmas in August Missionaries
Sonya Abram
Ministry Center Coordinator, Send Relief Memphis
Send Relief Memphis seeks to empower and build relationships with its neighbors. One way they do this is through the Loads of Compassion Initiative, through which they help people experiencing homelessness by taking them to a laundromat, washing their clothes, and providing care packages. They also have the Door of Hope Initiative, through which they donate household baskets to residents who have experienced chronic homelessness. Through both initiatives they have had gospel conversations, prayers, and connections to the church, and have blessed 400 neighbors with care packages and 60 neighbors with household baskets.
Items Needed
- laundry detergent
- dish detergent
- disinfectant spray
- multipurpose cleaner
- soap
- deodorant
- lotion/petroleum jelly
- socks
- gloves
- lip balm
Mailing Address
Sonya Abram
3034 Old Austin Peay Highway
Memphis, TN 38128
Brad Eckerley
Pastor, Cornerstone Fellowship Church
perucfc.com
Cornerstone Fellowship Church is engaging its local elementary school through Buddy Bags, which are filled with kid-friendly, individual-sized, nonperishable, and nutritious food items that children can prepare on their own. The school has approximately 500 students, and over half of the families qualify for the free-and-reduced lunch plan, which means they fall below the poverty line. The Buddy Bag meals/snacks will help sustain children during longer breaks when school is not in session. The church would also like to encourage the teachers — who purchase school supplies and necessities for their students out of their own pocket — with gift cards.
Items Needed
- individual microwavable mac and cheese sleeve cup or other single serve microwavable meal
- juice boxes
- shelf-stable fruit (applesauce, fruit strips, or individually packaged fruit cups)
- instant oatmeal packs, granola/fruit and grain breakfast bars, muffins, or toaster pastries
- meat sticks
- individual trail mix bags
- individual fish-shaped/cracker/snack bags
- individual bags of ramen soup
- small bags/sleeves of cookies
- microwavable Chef Boyardee bowls
- Amazon gift cards
Mailing Address
Brad Eckerley
4982 E 250 North
Peru, IN 46970
Josh Glymph
Pastor, Refuge Church
refugejaxchurch.com
Refuge Church was planted in 2020 in the Ortega community of Jacksonville, Florida. One of the church’s ministries is to children and families from foster and adoptive homes. They seek to provide resources, guidance, and support to foster and adoptive families, as well as education and training to help families navigate the foster care system.
Items Needed
- diapers!
- coffee gift cards ($5 or $10, to encourage foster and adoptive moms)
- wipes
- pajamas (ages 0–5)
- socks and underwear (ages 0–5)
- baby blankets/crib sheets
- new baby toys
- board games
- formula
- baby toys/pacifiers/teething toys
Mailing Address
Josh Glymph
4865 Roosevelt Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32210
Malcolm Griswold
Pastor, Reformation Church
reformationchurchdetroit.org
Evangelism is their passion, and the inner city is their burden: Reformation Church, an inner-city church plant, is reaching its community by first meeting physical needs and then ministering to spiritual needs. The church tends to those who are often neglected by society — the widows, the orphans, and the fatherless. “We believe the presence of Christ through His church contributes to the relief of the poor, the encouragement of the downcast, the healing of the broken, and the salvation and freedom of those captive by sin, through the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Malcom shares.
Items Needed
- baby formula
- newborn diapers and training diapers (for toddlers)
- Visa/Mastercard gift cards (to help families with utility bills)
- gas cards
- car seats
- CSB Bibles
- queen and twin bedsheets
- bath towels
- microwave (email for more information before purchase: [email protected])
- vacuum cleaner (email for more information before purchase: [email protected])
Mailing Address
Malcolm Griswold
12311 Rosemary Street
Detroit, MI 48213
Christi Hall
Chaplain, Chaplains and Heroes
chaplainsandheroes.com
Chaplain Christi Hall saw a need for a place where law enforcement chaplains and the local church could come together in support and service of law enforcement. She began Chaplains and Heroes to equip individuals, chaplains, and churches to change lives in the law enforcement community through various resources and the hope of Jesus Christ.
Items Needed
Chaplains and Heroes Amazon Wish List
Note: gift cards (Visa or MasterCard, can be used for travel and conference expenses, outreach and education to churches, ministry to deputies and their families, etc.)
Mailing Address
Christi Hall
Chaplains and Heroes
6503 Alum Creek Drive
Groveport, OH 43125
Kathleen Halse
Director, The Hub
thehublv.com
The Hub is the city engagement ministry of Hope Church in Las Vegas. They connect people to living the restored life of a Jesus follower through their five Rs: Rescue (from physical situations and life-controlling circumstances like abuse and exploitation); Relationship (with Jesus and with a safe community); Resources (access to basic needs, education, and employment); Recovery (from addiction, mental illness, etc.); Reconciliation (with God and others).
Items Needed
Mailing Address
Kathleen Halse
The Hub LV
850 E. Cactus Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89183
Qusai Mahmud
Director, Chicago Ministry Center
The Chicago Ministry Center, a Send Relief ministry site, is located in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, where most residents live at or below the poverty line. Many homes are without fathers and the resources to provide proper food, clothing, and shelter. Furthermore, the city has experienced an influx of migrants and refugees from all over the world, many of whom have nothing but the clothes on their backs. This fall, the Chicago Ministry Center will conduct several distributions to serve both its neighborhood and the city at large to meet tangible needs and share the good news about Jesus!
Items Needed
- toothpaste/toothbrush/mouthwash
- baby wipes/diapers (0–24 months)
- women’s/men’s coats
- travel-sized soap
- bilingual Bibles (Spanish/English)
- deodorant
- Ventra cards (Chicago Public Transit)
- gloves/hats
- blankets
- school supplies
Mailing Address
Qusai Mahmud
2234 S Ridgeway
Chicago, IL 60623
Jessica and Scotty Santiago
Passion for Prison Inc.
passionforprison.com
Passion for Prison Inc., led by Scotty and Jessica Santiago, shares the love of Jesus with those who are “presently, previously, or potentially incarcerated,” from the Sun Coast of Florida in the Tampa area all the way to the Emerald Coast in the panhandle. They also minister to the family members of those who are incarcerated. As part of their ministry, they ride their motorcycles into the prison yards to draw the inmates to them, and then they spend time building relationships and sharing Jesus. Their greatest ministry needs are for travel costs, mailings to inmates, and helping inmates upon their release.
Items Needed
- gas cards (RaceTrac, Wawa, Circle K, etc.)
- truck stop cards (Loves, Trucking America, Pilot, etc.)
- restaurant gift cards
- Visa cards (for inmate necessities upon their release)
- postcard and first-class stamps
- gift certificates to Hometown Auto (to maintain their vehicles), Phone: (813) 652-8093, ask for Brandon or Tino
- gift certificates to Cycle Stop USA (to maintain their motorcycles), Phone: (813) 754-2959, ask for Jason; cyclestopusa.com
- Harley Davidson cards (to maintain their motorcycles)
Mailing Address
Jessica and Scotty Santiago
Passion for Prison Inc.
PO Box 273721
Tampa, FL 33688-3721
Zach Schemmer
Lead Pastor, The Way Church KC
thewaykc.church
The Way Church KC exists to follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together. Any items sent will be used to help the church launch its Anchor Her Support Group and Anchor Her Clothing Closet, blessing women coming out of addiction, incarceration, and domestic violence.
Items Needed
Way Church KC Amazon Wish List
Mailing Address
Zach Schemmer
4326 Lloyd Street
Kansas City, KS 66103