During a church service it is typical to "take a collection." A plate is passed around and the people attending the service put money in the plate. Some of it is used for church expenses such as the pastor's salary, the electric bill, maintenance on the church building, and some is used for charitable work. Sometimes a special collection is taken for a specific purpose: to help a poor family, to raise money for someone who has a lot of medical expenses, or to help someone whose house burned down. https://www.google.com/search?q=collection+plate&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS622US622&hl=en-US&prmd=isnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijlsPWyrvbAhXSwFkKHcKqDxUQ_AUIESgB&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=sk0kgn5Phi5vrM:

In that context, it means that the church collected money (probably in a service) for the family. You know how there's a collection plate in most churches? They collected the money but instead of keeping it for the church, it was given it to the poor family.

It is like "donation" or "collected money" in this context.