LOS ANGELES, CA : The Spirit of Christmas came a little early this year! This past Sunday, December 17th, HeartFelt held a Christmas celebration for children and families in need. The event was held in the enclosed outdoor parking lot at Pastor Benny Herrera's Christian Fellowship church in East LA. HeartFelt returned to work with Pastor Benny again after the joyousness of this year's back-to-school backpack giveaway.
Through his work, Pastor Benny has a very good pulse on who in his community are in the greatest need. The kind and generous gifts from our MSIA family enabled us to invite 200 of the most in need children and their families.
Our MSIA family helped pull this event together in all aspects. Minister James Burton assisted with purchasing gifts with the donated money, helped wrap presents and also was instrumental with set up and during the event on Sunday. Minister Rita Van Fossan generously donated her time to help to help wrap gifts and purchase food, drinks, and treats for the event. Ministers Jackie Peterson, Julie Allgood, Angel Harper, James Burton, and Larry Quimby all lovingly assisted in wrapping and organizing all the gifts on the Friday before the event. On the day of the event, minister and Prana's very own chef, David Funk, was up early preparing about 500 hot dogs. Meanwhile, ministers James Burton, Kevin McMillan, Angel Harper, John Bader, and Orion Lopez helped load up their cars with toys, food and drinks. When we arrived in East LA, ministers Danielle Britton, Larry Quimby, Gaila Corrie, Hector Plotquin, and Antonietta Schulz joined the team to help decorate the place and pass out toys during the event.
The families then loaded up on the delicious hot dogs and cookies, chips and drinks. As they sat down to eat many of the children began to joyously open their presents and share their exciting new gifts with each other. The children laughed, played and the families just beamed. For many of the children at the event, this may be their only Christmas gift. And, the food was enthusiastically devoured - not a hot dog left in sight at the end!
Thanks to our MSIA family's generous donations, we were able to give every child that showed up (even more than the 200 invited!) a present and even were able to give Pastor Benny 50 more toys to take to the children he ministers to in Encinata, Mexico. Pastor Benny runs a soup kitchen there where very poor children can get two free meals a day - a lot of the time the only place they get fed. Pastor Benny said the children there will be thrilled to receive a Christmas present!
With overflowing love and gratitude in my heart, thank you all for making this HeartFelt Christmas event possible and such a joyous experience for everyone involved. God bless us all and Merry Christmas! ❤️
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"The highest form of consciousness is service. And the highest form of service is selfless service." – John-Roger, D.S.S.