My wife Paula and I are hosting a 40 Days In the Word group in Oak Trail Shores and our Micah 6:8 project is actually an opportunity for anyone who has an opportunity to serve.
Our group is small, there are only 5 of us, but we've encountered a big need that we feel called to help with and we'd love to have your support.
In the process of getting to know the folks at Oak Trail Shores we have become acquainted with Deanna, affectionately known as 'Mrs. Dee" who works at the OTS pool and is very active supporting the children in the community. She and her friend Sherry coordinate the Annual Oak Trail Shores children's Christmas party.
We invited Mrs. Dee to attend out group meeting and got the details from her on the Children's Christmas Party. They began coordinating this Christmas Party for the kids who live in OTS several years ago and I was amazed to hear that it's attended by 200-300 children!
This is a party that's been coordinated each year by these two women with very little support and almost no money. We learned that they raise money for the party throughout the year with yard sales of donated goods and really nothing else - they literally coordinate this party on a shoestring budget then do all the work themselves. We're told that for many of the children who attend this is perhaps the only Christmas celebration they have.
In our meeting last Wednesday we asked Dee to provide us with a wish-list of sorts to let us know what she needs the most. Since there's only 5 of us in our group we thought that list would be helpful for us to focus our efforts.
Below are the details of our meeting with her:
Date: Sat, Dec 17th, from 6-9 PM
Description: The party is held at the Oak Trail Shores Community Center. This is a small building for that many kids, it's one room that measures about 40' x 40'. She said they like to feed the kids as much as they can, last year they had nacho's and donated pizza from Domino's. They have games - last year they had a coloring contest with a small prize awarded to winners in various age groups purchased with money they had raised. They have a volunteer Santa that gave each child a candy cane last year, along with whatever gifts they can find to give the children. Last year they received a donation of broken/dirty toys that Mrs. Dee and Sherri worked to repair or clean as best they could, nothing new was donated. Mrs. Dee used some of the money she had raised in the yard sales throughout the year to buy dolls at Family Dollar for the girls and some small balls for the boys so each child could hopefully get something.
Dream Sheet: Here's a list of the things Mrs. Dee mentioned she could most use help with this year:
Food
-Domino's has already agreed to donate 20 Pizza's again this year
-Hot Dog's, Chips, Drinks
-Candy
-Candy Canes
-Ice
Paper Goods
-Cups, Plates, Napkins
Decorations
-Christmas Tree
-Decorate the room/outside
Tent
-There are too many children for the size room available, a tent would be perfect for the area behind the Community Center to expand the usable space
Bounce House(s)
-Kassie Hooser is also hosting a 40 Days group, she contacted me this weekend to confirm that she had located two bounce-houses someone is willing to donate!
Volunteers
-The more the better, 200-300 is a lot of children!
-Daniel Adams from our 40 Days group has volunteered to be Santa
-Plan/Supervise Games for the Children
-Serve Food
-Set up/Clean up
-Games
-School carnival style participation games to entertain the children during the party
-face painting?
-skill games
-cake walk? etc...
Toys
-Gender Neutral; new if possible
-Stuffed Animals
-Games, trucks, dolls, etc.
-Consider teenagers
Donations
-Fund raising from local businesses
-Daniel Adams has already begun the inquiry process with large retailers in Granbury; HEB, Walmart, Kroger, etc.
-Food Donations
-Toy Donations
I'm sure I've forgotten something but this is the bulk of what Mrs. Dee mentioned in our meeting last week. Learning about this party has really given us a heart to want to help them with this as much as possible.
There is a big need, however, so any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
I ran this info through Pastor Chris and he suggested that I post it here for info and to solicit support. My wife Paula and I aren't coordinating the party, just help Mrs. Dee as much as we can. If you'd like to get involved please send me an email and we will coordinate with you and her to find out what's needed most and hopefully make this a great celebration for the children of Oak Trail Shores!
You can contact me by email: wtprater@gmail.com
In Christ,
Wes
