Box of Hope is a ministry of Hope Fellowship, a community church in Ramsey, Minnesota. We are a church with a big vision to be a blessing in our community. We desire to be true to our name by offering hope and encouragement wherever we go. There’s no question the past few years have impacted all of us in one way or another. Some serving on the front lines, some feeling the weight of the world, most feeling weary from the battle, and all needing to know they matter. We started searching for practical ways to express love to others and offer a little bit of hope.

During the early days of the pandemic a small team would prepare and deliver meals to families that tested positive as a simple way of encouraging them.  This has continued throughout the past few years as a way of expressing love to the families at Hope Fellowship.  It prompted the question, “how can we do the same for the community of Ramsey?”  We learned from a local police captain that 70% of the calls they go on are related to despair.  Interacting with individuals and families struggling with depression, anxiety, or thoughts of suicide.  That sparked an idea.  What if we could put together a little care package for the police to give to those who are feeling discouraged?  The police department agreed to carry these care packages in their squads and our little team got excited about putting some boxes together.  It quickly became the “Box of Hope” project.

Our heart is to communicate God’s love to others.  We want people to know they are seen and that they matter to us.  We believe everyone is made in the image of God, and that He loves each one of us unconditionally no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in today.  Our desire is to see everyone experience life to the fullest. Sometimes when we are stuck we need a little help to take that first step in a new direction.  That step can lead to a beautiful transformation.  We want to be part of encouraging people to take that first step and the next step.

Our heart is to serve.  We talk often about being the hands and feet of Christ, but find ourselves getting caught up in the whirlwind of life.  We have found that loving and serving others requires intentionality.  In our humanity our default mode is to be pretty squarely focused on ourselves.  What gets us really excited about the Box of Hope project is that everyone can engage in serving someone else in a really practical way.  Families write letters of encouragement, kids drawing pictures, donating gifts that go in the box, packing boxes, and delivering the boxes.  It involves our faith community, our public servants, and our local businesses.  All together communicating to people that they and their future matter to us.

Our dream is to spark a movement of people in communities across the country who are actively loving and serving others in their own creative ways through this Box of Hope idea.  We want to see the church being the hands and feet in a way that transforms whole communities.  We want to see businesses serving their local community right alongside public servants and the church. Our prayer is that this movement would be part of the healing of the division in our land.  Our prayer is that each of us serving alongside one another will lead to a unity within our communities and healing in our land.  We want it to become your movement.