For most, Christmastime holds fond memories of family, laughter, presents, lots of food, carols and, in the Christian home, the remembrance and celebration of Christ’s birth.
But for the orphan, Christmas may not mean any of those things, said Frank Woodson, pastor of Covenant Community Fellowship Church, Birmingham.
In Jefferson County there are 940 orphans that live either in a group home or some form of foster care, according to the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR).
In order to show those 940 children “that there are people out there who truly care about them,” the Birmingham Baptist Association church started Christmas in the City a few years ago.
Coordinated through Mission Alabama, the church’s outreach ministry, Christmas in the City organizes the collection and delivery of presents for all the orphans in Jefferson County in DHR’s system — plus an additional 300 children that live in the low-income area of Gate City/East Lake.
Woodson, who also serves as executive director of Mission Alabama, said Christmas in the City works through DHR “because they already know where the most vulnerable children are.”
The Christmas project also works to disband the negative connotation DHR often carries with it and shows the government agency in a different light — as an organization working to reconnect families and find progress in family preservation, Woodson said.
During the fall months more than 15 organizations, including more than eight Alabama Baptist churches, “adopted” a child’s Christmas wish list and pledged to provide the presents for them, according to Ronnie Adkins, director of faith and community partnerships for Mission Alabama.
The wish lists, gathered by DHR, include the first name of each child, his or her age, if he or she has siblings and includes three “Christmas wish list” items — stuffed animals, basketballs, dresses, twin-size comforter set, iPad and so on.
Perfect collection location
Presents were provided to children from newborn to age 21. The older children and adults are usually in independent living, Adkins explained, “but have never been adopted or (been in) foster care.”
So how do all these presents get collected, sorted and distributed? That’s where Covenant Community Fellowship plays a big role. The church, planted in August, shares a building with Central Park Baptist Church, Birmingham. The large sanctuary — no longer used as both congregations meet in the building’s chapel — served as the perfect place to collect the presents.
In early December each child’s name was written on a large piece of paper and placed on the end of every pew in the sanctuary as more than 100 volunteers sorted the donated presents and placed them in their designated pew. Then each child’s social worker picked up and delivered the unwrapped presents so the foster parent or children’s home could know what the child received and could wrap the present for them.
The presents were collected and sorted Dec. 1–5 and 8–10 but can still be donated through Dec. 19. For more information, visit missionalabama.org.
Anita Scott-Smith, DHR program manager for community resources and training, said the children and caregivers are “very appreciative for the overwhelming support” through Christmas in the City.
“We are still getting calls for help with providing Christmas presents for some children that are not in our custody but live with grandparents or are in other families,” Scott-Smith said. “We are able to assist them as well.”
Making connections
Scott-Smith said she received a call in early December from someone who wanted to donate presents to whomever needed it. A few minutes later, she said, a grandparent called and needed someone to sponsor her children. Through Christmas in the City, Scott-Smith was able to connect the two.
Rick Ousley, bivocational pastor of Grace Point Church, Pelham, helped to sponsor 250 children by working through Volunteers of America (VOA). He helped connect The Station Church, Hoover; Grace Point Baptist; The Gathering Place, Moody; Faith Community Fellowship, Trussville; and others through VOA to provide presents for the children they “adopted.”
And although providing Christmas presents for the children in Jefferson County is a meaningful act of service that brings joy to each child and raises awareness of the need for foster care and adoption, Woodson said he sees Christmas in the City as something even bigger.
“(Christmas in the City is showing the) whole Church on the move to reach the whole city with the whole gospel.”
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