A Night to Remember
"I feel like a VIP," one boy shouted excitedly. To which another boy responded, "I am a VIP!"
And that was exactly the point of our Christmas Gala: to show these children who often feel overlooked, marginalized and even abandoned that they ARE very important to God. At Christmas we are reminded that God gave His very best for us because He loves us.
To set the scene, invitations were handed out at camp weeks in advance and there was much talk of a mystery host. When the special evening finally arrived there were lights, cameras, a red carpet, security (provided by a couple guys who looked strangely familiar), lots of fun activities and a modest Christmas dinner.
Two churches here in the GTA joined forces with our staff, interns and volunteers to provide the children of UPT with a night of Christmas celebration they will not soon forget. This annual event has become a tradition at UPT involving more and more volunteers each year. The entire event is planned and coordinated by the second-year UPT interns, providing them with a great opportunity to put into practice the ministry skills they have acquired during their internship.
Despite the huge organizational challenge it presented our interns, it was all worthwhile and in end Sarah (one of my interns) said, "The best moment for me was watching my kids walk the red carpet. Watching them pose and laugh and be silly and just have fun and watching them feel like they were important."
Portico a community church (Mississaugua, Ontario) provided the venue, donating their facility for the evening along with a team of volunteers who helped with decorating the building and entertaining the children. Uptown Toronto Meetinghouse (Toronto, Ontario), sent volunteers and a generous donation from their House Churches to help with program cost at UPT. Even the buses to bring the the children from each of our three camps to the event location in Mississauga were donated (huge thanks to one of my donors)!
Children love a party, but an invitation-only party hosted by a special mystery person was almost more excitment then these kids could bear! Check out the video to see how your giving this Christmas was a source of blessing to the precious UPT children from Camp Hope, Freedom (my location) and Victory.
Even though we are well into the New Year we do not want to quickly forget the wonder of Christmas and the various ways our ministry partners gave of themselves to enable UPT to share the love of Christ with so many.
On behalf of the children, thank you for your kindness and generosity!
Great update, Julius. BTW, our family now attends The Meeting House (Uptown Toronto). We were very pleased to learn that they were very much involved with making the UPT Christmas Party happen! We just found that out yesterday when we met with our Site Pastor. Looks like God has sent us to the right church! :-)
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