A Christmas Day Story

While a team of engineers built sandwiches in the kitchen, cookie packers prepared packages of cookies, as assembly-line leaders formed their assembly-line team. The receiving department had spent the previous week receiving items to be assembled and stocked was double checked for quality and quanity. The shipping department waited with baited breathe for the first finished products to come off the end of the line to be packed in boxes for delivery. When the starting whistle blew the action began. Sandwiches came out of the kitchen at break-neck speed, the cookie packers piled bags of cookies on trays to be delivered to assembly line workers. The THREE assembly lines were kept stocked with "parts" as assembly-line workers put together the final product--- a sack lunch. Each lunch consisted of a can of soda, a piece of fruit (orange, apple or banana), a sandwich (turkey, ham or bologna ) a bag of chips, a pack of cookies and a napkin. When the lunches were completed they were placed in boxes to be delivered to neighborhood residents. On Christmas Day in the course of 30 minutes about 600 sack lunches were assembled by more than 40 volunteers. A prayer of blessing was offered over the lunches for the workers and the receivers and part-two began.

Dock workers loaded trucks, vans and cars with the lunches. Two hundred doors of apartments at Garden Square were knocked on and a sack lunch was given to each person in the apartment. Mid-way through delivering the lunches, the "delivery people" began to find families in need of Christmas gifts, food and general household supplies all of which were called into the "special need center" set up in the church. Elves in the church began putting together the need items, wrapping presents, gathering food etc. Items were, then, delivered to the apartments that had the need.

Meanwhile delivery teams began to return with left over lunches as many people were not home (just as on the day that Jesus fed the multitude, there was much left over). On Christmas afternoon in the pouring down rain, five brave souls went door to door at Pine Valley Apartments (A Sidewalk Sunday School location) and knocked on an additional 100 doors, distributing nearly 200 sack lunches. By mid afternoon, 300 apartments were called on and nearly 600 sack lunches were delivered.

Thank you to all who made this story possible. You have been a blessing to our family and the neighborhoods served.