The charity drive kicked off Monday with a  Chapel announcement from Bob Strader, director of ACU Leadership Camps and Mark Hewitt, founder of Love and Care Ministries.

Strader and Hewitt said the first way to serve is to help volunteer and donate various items to the drop-off truck located outside the McGlothlin Campus Center in the mall area. The truck will be there until the start of Mission Thanksgiving next Friday.

Mission Thanksgiving is an annual collection that consists of food, clothing and monetary donations and is sponsored by Love and Care Ministries. Next Friday, all of the items will be sent to Arrow Ford for the Mission Thanksgiving cause.

Mission Thanksgiving has been growing since it began 14 years ago. At the first service of Mission Thanksgiving, one 18-wheeler full of items was donated. Last year, the service ended with donations filling 14 18-wheelers.

Hewitt believes Mission Thanksgiving will continue to grow with the help of Season of Caring, but he measures success of this project from a different perspective.

“Mission Thanksgiving is always a success, whether you get one item or a hundred,” Hewitt stated. “One item alone can help somebody. You would always like to see more, but one item helps.”

Thanksgiving Meals is a similar event supported by the Season of Caring. This program is an event that takes donations to give meals to needy families at Taylor Elementary School. Donations are taken until Nov. 16.

Season of Caring is also organizing several Christmas service events, including the Adopt-an-Angel program that sponsors children in the ACU Treadaway Kids program. Students can donate a gift by picking up a paper angel in the McGlothlin Campus Center anytime from Nov. 26 to Dec. 4. Also on Dec. 4., Christmas Slam is an event where the ACU community can bring an unwrapped toy for a needy Abilene child during ACU’s women’s and men’s basketball games in Moody Coliseum.

Strader believes that Season of Caring has done a good job of giving back to the city of Abilene and helping the community.

“ACU partners with over 180 different organizations in Abilene to help give back, and Season of Caring is only a part of that,” Strader said. “ACU does a great job in serving its community, and anyone can help volunteer and serve with the cause.”

Season of Caring started Monday, and there are multiple ways to get involved during it’s one month of service for the holidays. For more information on helping out with Season of Caring, visit http://www.facebook.com/seasonofcaring or contact seasonofcaring@acu.edu to volunteer.