Christmas 2026 · Restoring Joy Recovery
Christmas at Restoring Joy
Give a gift that stays.
This fall I started teaching at Restoring Joy Recovery, a faith-based home where women rebuild their lives one ordinary day at a time: chores, Scripture, work, recovery, supper around one table.
Christmas is a hard season to be starting over. I want every woman in that house to wake up on December 25 knowing she was remembered, and I want the house itself to start the new year with what it needs.
Every gift goes to Restoring Joy Recovery
Four ways to give
Choose where it goes, give what you can.
Gifts and services for women
Something under the tree, and care that lasts past Christmas: a warm coat, a haircut before a job interview, glasses that fit, a dental visit that has waited too long.
Giving opens soonGifts for children
Many of the women are mothers, and Christmas apart from your children is one of the hardest days there is. Your gift puts a present in a child's hands.
Giving opens soonThe house
Heat, groceries, the medicine cabinet, the vehicles that get everyone to work and church, and two hens named Bonnie and Clyde. The unglamorous things that make a house a home.
Giving opens soonThe education ministry
Bibles, books, notebooks and the supplies that make a classroom out of a dining room table.
Giving opens soon
The Christmas list
Your gift, by name.
Cash is a real gift when you know what it becomes. Pick a tag and that's what your gift does, from feed for two hens to medical care for a woman who arrived with none.
$10
Operating budget
Feed Bonnie and Clyde
Keeps the house's two hens in feed and scratch through the winter months.
Giving opens soonOperating budget
Fill the spice rack
Cinnamon, cumin, the good paprika. Supper should taste like somebody cared.
Giving opens soon
$25
Operating budget
Stock the medicine cabinet
Pain relievers, cough drops, bandages and a thermometer: the basics every house runs out of in January.
Giving opens soonFor the women
Stay warm this winter
A warm hat, gloves and thick socks for one woman.
Giving opens soon
$50
For their children
A Christmas gift for one child
A present chosen for a child's age, given in their mother's name.
Giving opens soonFor the women
A fresh start bag
Toiletries, hair care and new pajamas for one woman: the small things that say you belong here.
Giving opens soonEducation
Books for the table
A Bible, a study journal and the supplies one student needs for the winter term.
Giving opens soon
$100
Operating budget
Keep the heat on
Goes toward a winter month of the house's utility bills.
Giving opens soonFor the women
Interview ready
A haircut and an outfit that fits, for the woman walking into her first job interview in years.
Giving opens soon
$250
For the women
Eyes and teeth
Goes toward an eye exam and glasses, or a dental visit, for a woman who arrived with no coverage.
Giving opens soonEducation
A classroom for the winter
Goes toward the books, workbooks and supplies for the whole January class.
Giving opens soon
$500
Operating budget
Tires and brakes
Keeps the house's vehicles safe on the road to work, church and appointments.
Giving opens soon
$1,000
For the women
Medical care
Goes toward doctor visits, prescriptions and dental care for women who arrive with none.
Giving opens soon
The angel tree
A gift for every child, from their mom.
We're gathering the ages of the women's children now, and a tag for each child goes up on this tree soon. Until then, a gift to the children's fund covers every one of them.
The education ministry
What I've been teaching
Since October I've been teaching at Restoring Joy as a volunteer. First a two-night course on four ways of being human, and why the way we're wired is never a ceiling or an excuse: Moses, Jonah, Peter and Paul were each asked to do the thing they were worst at.
Then The Nature of God, and the Nature of Me: one night on who God says he is, one on who he says we are, and a third where the women teach the room, in art, poetry, essays and Scripture of their own choosing.
In January, I'm working to bring a GED class into the house through Alabama's adult education program, so women can finish the diploma that life interrupted. The class itself is the state's to provide. Your gift covers what a grant can't: the Bibles, the books, the journals, and the Bible study that runs alongside it.
— Lindsey
In someone's honor
Give it as a gift
Giving in someone's honor? Fill this in after you give and print a card for under the tree, or for the person who has everything.
Merry Christmas
Your name here
A gift has been given in your honor to Restoring Joy Recovery this Christmas:
a gift to the whole house
With love
Every gift on this page goes to Restoring Joy Recovery. Lindsey Elmore volunteers there and receives nothing from these gifts.
Dollar amounts show what a gift is meant to provide; the house puts every gift where it's needed most.
Questions about giving? hello@lindseyelmore.com