Giving families a bright Christmas
At this event, church members will welcome families into the church, providing food, clothing, crafts, Santa and holiday gifts.
“We will provide a sack of groceries for them,” said Mimi Moran, media spokesperson.
She explained the church partners with Second Harvest, which provides the food, and FFUMC has a gift room in which the parents can go through and select gifts for their children.
“We will have clothing they can pick up if they need,” Moran said. “We will have arts and crafts for the kids to play.”
And, it will feature photos with Santa.
“Our families come from Knox, Loudon, Roane and surrounding counties,” Moran said. “There are some agencies that we have partnered with. A lot of our families come from deep west Knoxville, and Loudon County is probably the biggest pull, but we expect 200 to 250 families.
“Last year, we had about 700 people who came through the church,” she said. “We open up our parking lot at noon for people to come in and get in line.”
Currently, the church is in the process of collecting donations, gathering clothing and organizing.
“On Sunday, we convert the. Sanctuary room into a store, if you will,” Moran said. She does ask that families register to attend.
“The goal of all of this event is still working our mission
for the church that we are serving in the community to show the love of Jesus,” she said. “Work has been a very strong focus in the last couple of years.
“We have a relatively new minister, Drew McCallie, who has been amazing,” she said. He came up from Chattanooga, but he has truly been restorative of First Farragut, and we’re growing.”
Also, “our children’s ministry is growing,” Moran said. “And our focus is now getting out into the community and helping those that can’t help themselves.”
“We are blessed to be able to provide gifts for families food for families that may not have a lot to choose from on Christmas and to have an extra gift under the tree for their kids,” she said. “It’s just part of our mission to give back and help as many as we can.”
To register, visit ffumc.org/register.
