Christmas Project 2011
2011 was the sixth Christmas the Lord has made a way for us to distribute two hundred gifts to some of the homeless in our area. We were blesssed to have seventy volunteers from Austin and the surrounding areas help prepare the gifts. Once again one hundred of the Christmas Bags were delivered to Terry Cole, with "Austin Street Youth". Volunteers who attended the assembly had the option of taking a gift or two with them to hand out Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to someone at a designated corner. About twenty volunteers joined us in downtown Austin Christmas Eve to hand out about eighty of the gifts. Since it was raining we handed the gifts out prior to the Salvation Army shutting their doors for fear that once they did anyone left outside would be under a cover and difficult to find. Needless to say, those who handed out the gifts, on the street corners or downtown, felt as though THEY were the ones who were blessed the most that night. We were in the presence of angels on this Holiest of nights....and God received all the glory.
So many people did so much to make this happen! May the Lord bless all of you who prayed for us, who donated funds, gathered items, contacted area merchants, picked up gift cards, made scarves, donated over four hundred pounds of fresh fruit, bagged the fruit, baked cookies, donated stockings (with great candy already in them!), attended the assembly, unloaded supplies (There was A LOT!), set up the tables, helped organize it all, assembled Bags of Grace, assembled hygiene packs with wash cloths, made wet wipe packets, opened packs of flashlights (No easy task!) and placed batteries in them, placed the new socks, manicure sets, playing cards, lip balm, toothbrushes, toothpaste and space blankets in the stockings, placed the gloves and scarves into the caps, those who stood with items to make certain each one was included, stuffing the gifts with tissue paper, loading the gifts into the trailer after the assembly (TOM, YOU ROCK!),for meeting us at Bethany Christmas Eve, filling your vehicles with gifts and going downtown with us and for handing out the gifts on the street corners. We need look no further than you to see the face of Christ!
Please remember the merchants below for all they did, as well, to make this year's 'Bags of Grace Christmas Project' the best one yet:
- Target
- HEB
- Home Depot/Lakeline
- Walmart
- Walgreens
- CVS Pharmacy
- Steinmart
- Sam's Club
WE THANK GOD FOR YOU ALL!! YOU'RE AMAZING!!
Praising Him
rita
Below are the photos from our 2011 Christmas project outreach.
