by Alyssa Berding and Liz Fleming
This holiday season, Valley Christian High School’s Prayer Evangelism class is reaching out to the community through several charity drives.
They kicked off the season in October with a special outreach for soldiers overseas. Ms. Vivian Pipkin came up with this idea for an outreach opportunity after hearing a story from Mr. Bob Burns about his daughter Heather, who is serving the country in Iraq. When asked about what one item soldiers would love to receive from back home, Heather exclaimed, “Starbucks Coffee!” The reaction of this one woman led the student body of Valley Christian to rally behind the troops and support them during the holidays. As a result, numerous donations of gallon-sized Ziploc bags have been flooding into Room 206 over the last month. These bags came filled with Starbucks Coffee, hard candy, Christmas knick-knacks, hand sanitizer, lotion, and playing cards to send some Christmas cheer to the soldiers. As an incentive for student’s participation, Ms. Pipkin promised to give a shorts/sweats day to every individual who brought in a bag over the duration of the drive. The classes ended up bringing in an amazing 101 soldier bags and 108 pounds of Starbucks Coffee for our troops stationed in Iraq.
The next outreach for Valley Christian students was a canned food drive. In an effort to help feed those who are less fortunate, students have rummaged through their cupboards or made a trip to Costco to do their part and help make a difference. The donations have been given to Second Harvest Food Bank to feed many starving and homeless people during the Christmas holiday. Large bins were set up in the school’s Bible classes and filled up quickly. The drive was fairly short and ended December 1, but the amount of food that was brought in will make a significant difference in our community and will help feed those who are less fortunate.
In addition to the canned food drive, Prayer Evangelism also initiated a toy drive in the hopes of making a little boy or girl smile on Christmas morning. Many children, who would not otherwise receive any Christmas presents, will be given a special toy through the help of Valley Christian students. The gifts will be delivered to shelters for abandoned mothers and children. These mothers do not have the income to spend on extravagant items, such as Christmas presents. This is where the Valley Christian student body comes in. It is evident that many students at Valley have realized what is truly important during this Christmas season: making a difference in the lives of others.
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