Another story of holiday giving tonight, this one shared by Mike Jensen:

Every December for the last 15 years, Hope Church and School has quietly been making the Holidays brighter for children and families in West Seattle.

This year the Hope Community donated gifts that touched more than 350 local kids, as well as many of their parents, that otherwise would likely not have gifts at Christmas. In addition, the Hope Community generously donated items to men from the Lutheran Compass Center as well as various Hope members and shut-ins.

But they didn’t stop there. More than 500 gifts were collected to send to mission teams in Mexico where even something as simple as a blanket is as precious as a new toy. Mary Anne DeVry, Hope’s Director of Human Care Ministries, has spearheaded the Holiday giving effort all of these years and is continually amazed at the generosity and outpouring of support from the congregation and the community.

“This response is really beyond what human beings do – as a church, we don’t have funds to buy all of these gifts, but they just pour in,” said Mary Anne. “This showing is the true meaning of Christmas, that God loves his people so much that he sent this son, but also sends his care in the form of blankets, bicycles and books!”

While this Christmas-giving season is winding down, Mary Anne encourages anyone that wants to be a part of this experience in the future to contact the Hope Church office at 206-937-9330.

We have more giving opportunities listed on the West Seattle Holidays page.