About 20 years ago the Mugs of Love project was started by a Leslie Randall, who was then a kindergarten teacher at Lacure school. Leslie was looking for a use for the extra mugs she had cleaned out of her cupboards. Her students brought in more mugs, and they filled the mugs with hotel size soap and shampoo along with some other personal items and donated them to Carriage Town Ministries, where they were given to those who came to eat on Valentine’s Day. After the second year Channel 12 began donating the mugs used in their morning Mug Shots to this program, and our Mugs of Love has been growing ever since. After Leslie retired, Susan Boyse continued the program. With the help of Sue and Bill Hilgris, mugs have also been given to the Veteran’s hospital in Saginaw at Christmas and at Valentine’s Day.

Unfortunately the demands of the educational curriculum cause there not to be enough time to continue to complete this kind of program in the school setting. In years past as many as 500 mugs have been donated in one year.

Financial support for this program is also limited in the school setting. Rather than let this service project end, Susan has decided to bring this program to Bethany church and allow us to continue this mission of giving. Lacure school families will continue to donate hotel toiletries and mugs. But the goal will now be to donate our Mugs of Love more than once a year.

In the past, every mug contained soap, shampoo, lotion, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb, a disposable razor, washcloth, as well as a snack food cookie or cracker, and a packet of hot cocoa mix. Also included was a new pair of socks, a pair of gloves, or a knit hat. The mug and all of its goodies were put into a plastic bag, along with a valentine from a Lacure student. This is what was then given out at the Carriage Town Soup Kitchen.

You can help us by donating coffee mugs or some of the supplies that we put into the mugs. Suggested donations are:
 Hotel or sample sized soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion
 Toothbrush, small sized toothpaste, floss
 Disposable razor, deodorant, washcloth
 Socks, (mittens, gloves, or knit hat are winter time needs)
 Snack items such as individual sized packages of crackers, cookies,
 Powered drink mix for water bottles

If you would like to donate any of these items, you can drop them off in the Sunday School room number 2 next to the pastor’s office. Our first goal is to be able to send 50 Mugs of Love to the Veteran’s hospital for July 4th. We would also like to put together 150 mugs for Carriage Town. Contact Susan Boyse if you would like more information about this program, or would like to help in the filling of the mugs.