by Carol Marie Fischer
Christmas has past. The wrappings are in the trash, the empty boxes recycled, and the Angel Tree in the lobby has been taken down. But what about the names on the tree? What about the many people who received our gift boxes?
Perhaps you didn’t know that ALL OF YOU AT FCC were the Angels. The names were senior citizens who needed Angels to minister to them...and you did. Not only did you do it well, but you ministered to them with love, caring, compassion and generous hearts. There is no way that any one person could experience all of the joy that these boxes brought to these people. We heard from folks who had no family to remember them, but the church family remembered. We had folks who were overwhelmed by the hand-made gifts and the beautifully wrapped packages. They couldn’t believe that someone cared so much for them. We heard from some who were sick and could not get out, and this was a little bit of Christmas that brought into their homes joy beyond measure.
Who would have thought that such a small gesture could mean so much? One lady that called cried to think that someone cared about what happened to her. She thought the gifts were extravagant and wondered why someone would give such beautiful things to a stranger. This was the opportunity to tell her that Jesus thought she was worth it and Jesus used these FCC families to touch her life.
The gifts you so lovingly wrapped were put into gift bags with something special that had been hand made by the Stitch'n Samaritans. To this was added a gift card, some beautiful books of the Bible, and tissue paper to make the bag look festive and special. The boxes were filled with so many surprises. Our FCC family has such creative touches for these boxes. There were soaps and candies, gift cards for dinners, stationery, candles, perfume, hand lotion, and homemade baked goods. Everything you could possibly imagine was packed into those boxes.
Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to participate in this great outreach. Your gifts and time were most appreciated by the senior citizens as well as the Benevolence Committee that put this altogether.
A special thanks goes to Lloyd Fox and Carolyn Oltraver who spent hundreds of hours preparing for this project and seeing that every single gift was delivered in time for Christmas. Without them, this project might not have run so smoothly. And to all of you who went out of your way to help us collect, sort, wrap and prepare for these deliveries, thank you also. There are just too many to list. As an added blessing, we wanted you to know that we bought “script” from the Christian School to purchase the gift cards that we put into the bags. This meant that the school benefited as well as the folks receiving the gifts. God bless you in the coming year as you have reached out to bless others. |
