Oh What a Night.... God had His hand on the outreach event.

Our last few posts have been preparing for the Christmas Outreach event. This outreach event was last night at West Ridge Church. Wow! We had over 1500 families show up in the blistery cold (estimates are 5000+ people).

Here is a snapshot of the event:
***The event started with an incredible Christmas pageant by the West Ridge Christmas Kids. This was a good old fashioned Christmas pageant with an angel choir of 130 kids. It was precious!!!!!!!!
***Toys for Tots handed out toys for Paulding County children. Toys For Tots was assisted by the ROTC. It was an amazing thing to see the kids in uniforms working so hard.
***CAYA handed out over 1500 food bags. They received an incredible blessing and were able to purchase a hen for each bag. Every family at this event received their dinner to cook on Christmas day. CAYA will tirelessly be delivering and handing out 700 more food bags over the next 2 days.
***Santa was in present with little elves. Santa's room was decorated in a manner which challenged Lenox Mall. The kids loved it. Santa and Mrs. Clause donated their time.
***FUN! We had to set up our outdoor carnival area inside due to the wind. We weren't able to use some of the inflatables or have the fire for marshmallows. We set up 3 of the moonwalks inside the worship center. We moved John Z (DJ) inside. He donated his time. We had popcorn, coffee, and cookies inside. We had face painting too. The GRINCH even came.
***We were able to raffle off about 10 nice bikes and scooters for kids. We were also able to raffle off 9 live Christmas trees, tree stands, lights and decorations.
***A Fresh Hope had a shopping store room. This room was filled with thousands of new items. The kids were escorted through the store by a teenager. The teenager helped the child select a gift for his/her parents and wrap the gift. It was neat to see teenagers helping the kids.

This event involved 5 churches (Church at the Ridge, Cedarcrest Church, West Ridge Church, Hope Church and Pumpkinvine Baptist). We had over 70 kids from Harrison High Beta Club. South Paulding FCA brought some volunteers. MUST Ministries had some volunteers. ROTC helped Toys For Tots. We had a Boy Scout Troop helping also... All with 1 purpose, 1 mission, 1 message.

It was a huge crowded mess. We saw many sad stories. It was a sign of how so many are hurting. These folks stood in line for 2 hours to go to the shopping store or to get a food bag. The night was a blessing for all those involved. We pray that someone was filled with HOPE from this outreach event.