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Thanks for supporting church's Christmas store
Letter to editor
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Editor,
For the past seven years, New Life Family Church in Midway has been assisting local families through its Christmas store. Recognizing that many families in our community do not have the means to provide Christmas gifts for their children, we have endeavored to aid as many of these families as possible. While our primary goal is to make sure that disadvantaged children are able to share in the tradition of opening gifts on Christmas morning, we also see this as an opportunity to bring hope and inspiration to parents and guardians.
As parents ourselves, we understand the joy that comes from shopping and picking out gifts for our children and looking forward to their excitement when they open those gifts. We want the parents and guardians who participate in our program to have a similar experience.
With this in mind, we established the Christmas store to provide a wonderful Christmas day for children and an inspiring, hope-filled shopping experience for their parents. Through a selective, need-based application process, families are invited to shop for their children at our “store.” The shoppers are allowed to select five gifts for each child, ranging from remote-controlled cars, Easy-Bake Ovens, Legos, electronics, sports equipment, action figures, dolls and more.
In our first year, we sponsored a handful of children, and in each year following, the Christmas store has been able to help even more children. Sherry Bell, store director and coordinator, begins planning for Christmas in January and voluntarily devotes her entire year to fundraising, planning and organizing Christmas store events. Due to her dedication and the tireless efforts of her volunteer staff, we were able to provide an amazing Christmas experience for 138 children and their families in 2012.
The generosity and support the New Life Family Church congregation and the community as a whole made the giveaway possible. We raised $15,000 for the Christmas store, thanks to local business sponsors, individual contributions and dedicated volunteers.
New Life Family Church and the Christmas store would like to thank Kim Tabb and the Pizza Peddler for contributions in memory of Gary Tabb, the Friends of Dorchester for allowing us to use Dorchester Academy again this year for our charity auction, Cherokee Rose Country Club, Cut Loose Hair Salon, Dorchester Shooting Preserve, The Emerald Princess, Gift Wrap Company, Goodyear Tire, Hinesville Gold and Silver Pawn, Into The Sun Tanning Salon, Izola’s Country Café, Joel and Stephanie Osteen, K Tech Computer Services, Le Jolie Salon, Liberty Propane, Mega Pawn, Merle Norman Cosmetics, Michael’s Deli, Michelle Tootle/Scentsy, Mr. Cash Pawn, Roffler Hair Salon, Village Lighthouse Partners-Condo at St. Simon’s Inn, Shay Smith Interiors, Simply Delicious, Brian Smith, Southeast Auto, The Heritage Bank staff, Liberty Regional Medical Center staff, Sweetly Southern, Thomas Hill Jewelers, VIP Office Furniture and Supply, and Wellman Family Healthcare.
Your generosity helped make Christmas a season of joy for many. God bless you!

— Jeremy Lormis,
pastor, New Life Family Church

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