Second Saturday Shout-out: Luke Flerlage & Alleluia Baskets
We apologize for the delay, but we wanted to make this Second Saturday Shoutout post align with Easter and the kindness that comes from it.
This Second Saturday Shoutout is dedicated to Luke Flerlage, a 6-year old boy who delivered hundreds of Easter baskets to children in need.
Luke, who is from O’Fallon, Missouri, has volunteered with Alleluia Baskets, a non-profit organization that provides Easter baskets to children in poverty, since he was only three years old. He became involved with the organization with his parents in 2020 when they came in and helped the group fill the baskets up.
At first, Luke helped assemble the baskets with his mother Beverly, but he eventually began building baskets of his own. Luke told his parents that “he wants to help more kids smile.” After that, he began finding ways to bring in supplies on his own.
Luke’s father reached out to Karen Mesler, founder of Alleluia Baskets, and mentioned his son’s wish to increase the work that was being done.
Flash forward to 2022, Luke and his family were able to fill multiple cars up with different toys and other gifts that would go into the baskets that were being donated that year.
Luke had a goal to collect even more gifts for the baskets for 2023, and along with his parents and Karen Mesler, devised a plan to accomplish this goal. Mesler provided Luke with a box truck to fit all of the toys and gifts he planned on collecting.
From there, Luke began speaking with everyone he encountered about his goal and the mission that Alleluia Baskets stood behind. A friend of Luke’s family ran a pumpkin patch in the fall and donated the proceeds towards buying the supplies for the Alleluia Baskets for this year’s Easter.
At the end of this March, along with the help of 50 volunteers, Luke was able to collect 12,221 items for Alleluia Baskets and load and unload all of them into the box truck.
Karen Mesler noted that “It was a very sweet, beautiful act of love.”
According to Fox News, Luke already has planned a kid’s trivia night in September to raise money for next year’s collection and hopes to make next year’s impact even greater.
Good job Luke! Have a Happy Easter to all who celebrate, we hope this has inspired you to do some good in the world!!
