Martin Luther King, Jr. Morning of Service
​January 17, 2022

In honor of the legacy of the late Dr. King, Trinity Swarthmore hosted its 8th annual Morning of Service in support of Caring For Friends, a non-profit organization which provides meals to home-bound individuals who have little to no means of support.  Due to Covid restrictions on in-person gatherings, this year we once again asked participants to assemble breakfast bags with enclosed hand-made note cards at home, and then drop the breakfast bags off on the morning of January 17th at Trinity.   Trinity volunteers then took the breakfast bags to Caring For Friends to distribute to those they serve.   With overwhelming community support, we collected 1,340 bags, far more than our original goal of 1,000 breakfast bags!  With so many breakfast bags, we not only gave bags to Caring for Friends, we also shared breakfast bags with Family Promise of Delaware County, a non-profit organization providing for the needs of families experiencing homelessness.  This annual inter-generational morning of service event is family friendly, where people of all ages come together in support of those in need.  Scroll below for photos of the day, to include photos of Girl Scout Troop 50220 making more than 300 bags, Trinity's  drive-through collection, and finally, dropping off breakfast bags at Caring for Friends. 

How to make breakfast bags:

Step 1:  Gather breakfast bag items

Each breakfast bag contains one of each of the items below:

• Single serving cold cereal OR single serving instant oatmeal
• Apple sauce cup OR fruit cup (no grapefruit)
• Juice box (no grapefruit)
• Breakfast Bar
• Single serving hot cocoa OR tea bag
• ​One gallon-size Ziplock bag per breakfast bag​
• Please do not include perishable items in the breakfast bag

Step 2:  Make a hand-made note

• Use color paper, markers, colored pencils, water colors, stamps, crayons - anything to make a cheery note
• Think about the person that will be receiving your hand-made note, maybe say a prayer for that person, too
• Everyone in the family can participate, let your creativity soar!
• Don't forget to include an uplifting greeting on the inside​, perhaps start out your message with "Dear Friend"
• For your convenience, click here for a selection of pre-printed insert messages to cut out and paste onto your homemade card

Step 3:  Put the food and note in a ziplock bag

• To assemble the breakfast bag, please place one of each breakfast bag item listed in Step 1 plus your hand-made note into a ziplock bag
• Don't forget to seal the bag, please! 
• ​Each filled  ziplock bag is considered one breakfast bag
• We aim to collect 1,000 breakfast bags, we really appreciate your making several breakfast bags!

Step 4: Drop off the assembled breakfast bags at Trinity on January 17th between 11:30am and 1:30pm

• Drop-Off Hours are 11:30am to 1:30pm, Trinity Circle Drive on College Avenue
• Contactless Drop-Off:  please have your breakfast bags in the trunk of your vehicle when you drop them off at Trinity
• Please remain in your vehicle, our volunteers will retrieve the breakfast bags from your car
• ​No early drop-offs please
• Inclement weather:  please check the website for update if drop-off plans need to change due to weather
  

Thank you for participating in our 8th Annual
​MLK Morning of Service!