The Young Disciples of Wittenberg Lutheran Church celebrated Christmas by readopting the family that the class had helped at Thanksgiving.
This family with three children had been so grateful for our thoughtfulness at Thanksgiving that they started going back to church. The mother even told the social worker that her faith had been restored at a challenging time in her life. She said she was on the edge of giving up all hope, but our visit had renewed her faith in God.
With the help of our Sunday school teacher, Melissa Shue, we got a list of what the family needed and their Christmas wishes. After estimating the total cost for these things, we knew that it was going to take quite a bit of money to provide food, clothing and a toy for each child.
We began to brainstorm ideas for raising money. We decided to ask our congregation for help by bringing canned goods for our “adopted” family. Our church family brought lots of food.
With the food taken care of, we still needed a quick way to raise additional funds. We decided to do a Santa’s Workshop and charge $5 per child. The workshop would consist of crafts and games to entertain the children for two hours, while their parents went shopping.
On Dec. 21, a Thursday, 18 children came to the Santa’s Workshop. In the workshop, the children played games, made crafts and had a snack. They had a wonderful time playing “Live Candy Land,” “Quiet Ball” and “Duck, Duck, Goose.”
They also made cute crafts. We took pictures of each child and placed it in picture frames they had painted. They made reindeer and angels with their hand and feet prints. It was fun, but what a mess!
They made reindeer light bulbs and reindeer food, also.
To conclude our fun-filled workshop, we read the story “The Crippled Lamb,” by Max Lucado, a story about the giving of one’s self. The workshop was definitely a success.
After the workshop was over, we found out that our congregation had opened not only their hearts, but their wallets as well, in response to our project. Between our workshop and money the congregation contributed on two Sundays, we ended up with more than $500.
Our congregation had handed all of us money for this special event. “I had written a letter to Santa for the newspaper about our Thanksgiving experience with this family and how deeply it touched me,” said Jordan Shuping, one of the helpers. “My pastor read the letter during church as part of her sermon on giving. After church, people gave me money, saying that if it touched me that much, they would also like to give.”
We ate lunch and then took off for a local department store to buy Christmas gifts. We divided into groups and purchased the family clothes and a toy or two each.
We also bought the mother some things. In 45 minutes, our shopping excursion was complete, and we were able to provide the family’s Christmas wishes.
The next stop was our teacher’s house, where we sat down and talked about the family’s situation to those who didn’t go at Thanksgiving. We also said a prayer that we would get there safely and that we were doing the right thing.
We quickly loaded the cars with presents and went to our family’s house.
Although the children were not home to run and greet us as before, we were excited, knowing that with our help, another family would be blessed this Christmas. We only wish we could have seen their faces on Christmas Day when they opened their presents from their Christmas angels.
We thank our Sunday school teacher, Melissa Shue, our Wittenberg family and our parents for helping to make this Christmas possible for our adopted family. We now have experienced the true spirit of Christmas giving.
Santa’s Workshop youth workers were Clint Breitwieser, John Jacob Fisher, Dylan Helms, Caroline Hughey, Jordan Shuping, Chadwick Tucker, Chase Tucker, J. Hylton Tucker, Brittany Wilhelm and Chelsea Wilson.
Adult helpers were Michelle Clement, Patty Helms, Adrian Jackson, Melissa Shue and Adrian Whitley.
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