LEARN MORE ABOUT INFINITE CHRISTMAS & HOW IT WORKS

Infinite Christmas is a vision of a monthly community engagement that targets families and singles (post-millenial, multi-generational). The program is formed around serving vulnerable children and people in Oakland through service projects and opportunities to give.

We help take care of every part of our community. We all need love and support all year, and in this program we share our gifts with those who can most use them all year round.

Infinite Christmas is a home goods distribution network, built on a wheel structure.  

• Shipments of home goods from prominent retailers are sent to our Hub in Hayward, California.  At the Hub, donated goods are received, unloaded and vetted.  These are home goods from top retailers that would otherwise end up in a landfill.  

• We receive items ranging from diapers to space heaters, rice cookers, air fryers, air conditioners, etc, to as-new or easily reparable furniture.  Empowering dozens of skilled volunteers, we repair and itemize the goods at the Hub.  

• Then we empower (as of today) thirty-nine nonprofit partners  - PODs, Points of Distribution - who leverage these goods to meet people “at the point of their need.” 100% of our work focuses on vulnerable families, individuals living at the poverty line or below it and the housing-unstable neighbors at the point  of their need.  

• Our thirty-nine PODs range across the Bay.  We onboard and train PODs to work in alignment with the ACCORD Standards and the Red Cross Code of Conduct. Goods cannot be used to proselytize - i.e. compel an individual to make a spiritual decision in order to benefit from these items - and PODs cannot monetize donations.  All items must be given freely.  

• During 2021, in Alameda County alone, we recycled and reused over one million dollars (wholesale value) in home goods, working with partners like Abode, South Hayward Parish, and Acts Full Gospel.  

• During the COVID lockdown, we placed 220 recycled refrigerators in every teacher’s classroom in four schools serving vulnerable youth.  For those teachers this was a “we see you and we love you” point of connection.  We also were able to provide one years worth of cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer to the same four schools, as well as twelve Alameda County churches.  

• Because we focus on individuals and families living at the poverty line or below it, we are getting goods into the homes of individuals who would never be able to obtain these goods.  These goods empower individuals and families to cook, rest comfortably, and generally improve the quality of life in the home - sometimes dramatically.

Each load costs $1150 per load to ship each trailer to the Hub.  Each load is maxed-out, weighs 30,000 pounds and carries a minimum wholesale value of $40,000/per load.  Through Infinite Christmas, PODs have empowered thousands of vulnerable individuals in our first eighteen months - yet shipping costs restrict our total impact.  

PODs pay an annual membership fee of $540/year to help subsidize shipping costs.  This covers just a portion of total costs.  Because our partners are often low-income organizations working in extremely vulnerable contexts, we want to empower them, not exclude them.  Some of our PODs are:  

• Abode Services who serve those whom are unsheltered/unhoused and young adults coming out of foster care.

• Acts Full Gospel (Oakland) whose OK Program focuses on empowering black youth in low income contexts.

• Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center who provide encampments in Fremont, Hayward, and Union City with onsite health care services, housing/sheltering recommendations, and social services.

• Glad Tidings Church which provides low income families in Hayward with affordable housing.

• Greater St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church which serves West Oakland providing vulnerable black men and women housing support on a case by case basis, and many other churches who serve low income communities of color.  

• Bay International Church serves the Hayward Filipino community.

• Samoan Church of the Nazarene serves the Samoan community of Hayward.

• Joey Mason for Alameda County serves men and women and their families transitioning from prison back to civilian life.  

Our supply chain could literally triple the loads we receive per month if we had the funding to cover shipping for those loads.  At present, we average 6.6 loads per month.  At six loads/month, we vet, repair and distribute $240,000 of home goods to on-average 2,865 individuals in Alameda County - 1,000 adults and 1,865 children/month. 

Our POD Network Story

• First Load received on December 23, 2020.  We picked up eight PODs in the first month.

• We have grown from eight to 39 PODs!

• A POD is a Point of Distribution committed to…

• Onboarding and training.

• Monthly pick ups 

• Regular local distributions to the most vulnerable in the POD’s community 

• Receiving ongoing support and equipping from EIKON

• Monthly POD connect - Hub afterparty and All-POD Call

• Monthly POD reporting

• Annual Membership Fee

Our Numbers - First Nine Months

• Our PODs engage hundreds of people and families each month and are positioned to serve at the point of their need.  Many served are unsheltered, in foster care, recovery homes and are living in poverty. 

• EIKON has distributed $1.52 million wholesale value of home goods given locally at an average of $40,000/load.

• We also received multiple loads direct from World Vision and from a variety of donors - i.e. 210 refrigerators we placed in classrooms for teachers serving vulnerable children in four different schools;

• We provided enough sanitation supplies to reopen those same schools during the Spring and Fall of 2021.

• Donors from outside of the church have helped provide a forklift and pallet jacks.

Next Steps:

• We are applying for grants in the recycling space and seeking support for our staff team.

• We hope to secure a larger warehouse space.

• Mobilizes people in and outside of the church around a focused missional imperative (action).  Identify donors who believe in this work.

• “Sponsor a Load” - $1150/per load.  The average load benefits approximately 135 unique individuals.

• Volunteer with us!  Come to the Hub and volunteer on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  We offer volunteer training.

• Become a POD - We will onboard your church/nonprofit as a POD, get you resources quickly, and connect you to our diverse network of likeminded partners to learn and be encouraged.  Email John Huddle @ jhuddle@eikons.org or Lindsay Hill @ lhill@eikons.org.

EIKON | INFINITE CHRISTMAS

Together wE HAVE ENOUGH FOR ALL OF US.