Holiday Party at Woodlawn homes.

Hey guys,

Just an update from Monday’s Holiday Party at Woodlawn Homes:

Through donations we received over 50 presents for the kids (we only had 40 on the list!).  Over 75% of the gifts were donated by my co-workers at Fridays, which was a HUGE win.  This created a buzz around work that is now flowing into talks of several co-workers going downtown to serve at the men’s homeless shelter in January.  The extra gifts were donated to the community room at Woodlawn to be used by the residents during their after school activities.

Also we received donations of gift cards to Giant Eagle from Leroy Chapel which we were able to use to bless the adults residents at the party.  Many of the adults that signed up did not attend so the extra gift cards were given as gifts to the staff at LMHA.  Words cannot describe what this meant to the staff members that were at the party.  They were simply speechless.  I can see doors for Christ beginning to open that I was not expecting when the evening began.

Finally we also saw two donations via gift cards that were gifted to the executive director and the manager of residents of LMHA.  Erica Peavy, the manager of residents, has been our main contact for LMHA.  She was overjoyed.  Steve Knotts, the e.d., has gone a full 180 in how he has approached us, specifically me, in our breif conversations over the last year.  On Monday, when we handed him the card, he shook my hand, gave a genuine thank you and mentioned that depending on the gift amount he may not be able to keep it.  About 10 minutes later he found me, pulled me aside, and personally thanked me, Catalyst and our partnership churches.  He said the donation was unexpected and he and his wife will throroughly enjoy it (a gift card to Red Lobster).  He also said no one had even done anything like that for himself or his staff.  I was able to share with him why we do what we do; Jesus Christ.

One of my coworkers was able to help me deliver the gifts.  I caught her crying at one point: the 5 year old girl sitting next to her was getting ready to open her second present (all the kids got one gift from us and one from LMHA) when her dad stopped her b/c they needed to “save that gift to open with mommy on Christmas because that is your [her] Christmas gift.”  The little girl responded that “this is the best Christmas ever!“  There were several children that carried a gift still wrapped out of the party.

Thank you again for all you support.  Activities like these have allowed our relationship with LMHA to strengthen to the place it is. This strong relationship has also allowed Neal and I to begin laying plans for launching our Family 2 Family vision in the beginning of the new year.

In Christ,

Patrick Cannon

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Catalyst Ministry