Christmas Project
Dear Editor: This is a Christmas project that we’ve been working on for months.
First Baptist Church Sitka has been busy raising funds and donations from our community and our church to support children in Hoonah. Fifty-five children (that’s half of the attendance of the Hoonah school system) will receive a small box of Christmas joy on Dec. 16. All of the toys and supplies have been purchased, packed and are in a trailer leaving on the ferry. Children 1 year old to fifth-grade from homes that might need a little help will be the recipients at the distribution by the “Hoonah Baptist Mission” led by Mr. and Mrs. Bill Brown.
Families signed up in order to be included. Every child who signed up will receive one of the boxes. The average cost to prepare each box is about $60. This effort has been supported by the Tongass Baptist Association which includes all Southern Baptist churches in Southeast Alaska, led by FBC Sitka.
We’d like to thank all of the businesses and individuals who have given money, toys and time to complete this project.
Children’s material has been included in each box to tell each child about the real reason for Christmas.
Pastor Darvin Jordan,
First Baptist Church
Backpack Blessings
Dear Editor: We would like to give a belated thank you to Shirley Robards. She very graciously allowed us use of a space to store and pack the food for Blessings in a Backpack this past year.
Her kindness allowed us to expand the program which created a need to store cases of food. This year, the program feeds 105 students from Baranof, Keet and Blatchley. These students are identified by school staff as in need of some food over the weekend. Many studies show that a student will show up on Monday with a little more enthusiasm and a little more focus if they have eaten healthy food over the weekend.
If you would like to donate to this program, please call 738-0580. This is a non-profit national organization and 100 percent of your donation goes to providing food for Sitka students. You can also donate to other programs throughout the nation by going to blessingsinabackpack.org and selecting the community of your choice. Thank you so much.
The Falvey family, Sitka
