From an email-- the idea was too good to lose. I post it here for anyone who wants to use it. I'll post others as I spot them.
Subject: A service project for one
From Joan (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, Canada)
"This year I had a bright idea about food banks and service. I thought I would share it in case anyone else is interested to use it.
For a long time it has struck me that they give out big turkeys to people but many poor people may not have an oven in which to cook them or may not have the energy to DO that much cooking or perhaps may lack storage space for a lot of leftovers. Then I noticed the Spam company is selling small cans of roast turkey. I myself have lived in a travel trailer in a KOA campground with no oven, where several impoverished families also lived. So I have a sense that places like foodbanks do not always give them holiday foods in the most usable form.
So at Thanksgiving I bought such a can of turkey, some stovetop dressing, a small package of fruitcake, a couple cans of veggies, some gravy mix, cranberry sauce, canned candied yams, canned new potatoes or instant potatoes and packaged it into one of those little display boxes in which the store sets out their canned goods. I tucked in a votive candle and holder and an inexpensive decoration and printed a sign "This is a holiday meal for one or two people who lack storage space for leftovers or an oven in which to cook" and wrapped it all in Saran wrap.
When I took it to the foodbank at Thanksgiving, the lady there said, "Oh, I wish we had that about an hour ago. Someone was here who has to drive in a small RV to her seriously ill dad." So I have gotten a sense that this is a way to "feed the poor" (whom we often are not acquainted with) in a way that conveys a little more love of humanity than merely dropping off cans of stuff at the food bank. I am just finishing one up for Christmas now, which I will take over there later today. This one has iced cookies for dessert and a spray of fake poinsettia for the table with the candle.
I hope some other people want to use this idea; that is why I am posting [emailing] it here. "