Christmas Give Away 2021
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Taking what is needed
Two months ago Mohammad Rahim arrived in St. Louis to start a new life after having barely escaped from the fast changing political turmoil in Afghanistan. The joy of reaching America safely was, however, mitigated by their challenging re-settlement. Finding a job and paying for family needs was stalled because of slow paperwork.
Encountering urgent needs and trying to manage them with few resources, Mohammad took up the invitation to visit the Peace Center and find out what the Christmas Give Away at CFNA was all about. On picking up his two large bags of house-use items, Mohammad had this to say – “You all are very good people…you try to help us. Thank you very much. Merry Christmas to you.”
Like Mohammad, there were other New American friends from a total of eight birth nations that participated in the Christmas Give Away. Organized over three days, Dec. 15-17, the Give Away saw a total of 100 families pick up their Christmas gifts of paper products, hygiene products, creams, soaps, detergents, jackets, shoes and more.
This activity was accomplished only because of the support and participation of over 40 volunteers who helped by picking up items from our storage facility, then staging them at the Peace Center and helping with each of the three distributions. Teams from Concordia Seminary, Edward Jones, and New Beginnings Lutheran Church, served to accomplish this, together with individual volunteers from various Lutheran congregations as well as New Americans connected to CFNA.
Items for the Give Away came from the over 25 area Lutheran congregations that provided ‘in-kind’ donations for service to Afghan and other refugees. Seminarian Lawton, leader for the Life Team at Concordia Seminary, shared – “We are here to serve. It is wonderful to see how many blessings have been provided by God’s people to serve a need. We are glad to be a small part of your work.”
Echoing this spirit, CFNA expresses its gratefulness for the blessings shared by generous believers who wanted to bless refugees with Christmas cheer this season. Our thanks also go to all our hard working volunteers who blessed us with their time and effort in the midst of their own busy schedules. Hopefully, by receiving these gifts through the Christmas Give Away, our New American friends were witness to what the season is all about – the spirit of giving and God’s presence in our world.
May God bless you all with baby Jesus’ joy and peace this blessed season.
By Rev. Stanish Stanley, Ph.D.
Executive Director, CFNA, St. Louis
