Members of Collierville United Methodist Church (CUMC) brought the love, hope and warmth of the Christmas season to 50 at-risk inner city children when they dropped by to serve dinner, create crafts, and sing holiday songs at the FirstWorks After School Program.
An academic program for children and youth, grades 1 - 12, FirstWorks enrolls at-risk, poverty level children from downtown zip codes and meets twice a week for dinner, tutoring, career counseling, life-skill lessons and visits from inspirational speakers.
The aroma of a delicious home-cooked meal, a welcoming smile and a big hug welcomed the children as they jumped off the FirstWorks bus at Union Avenue United Methodist Church - excited about the evening's upcoming events.
"Kitchen Angels" from Collierville United Methodist Church had been cooking for several hours preparing a healthy meal of spaghetti, salad, punch and cupcakes for these excited and hungry school age children.
Following the meal and fellowship, the children were entertained by the energizing sounds of the Collierville UMC Youth Praise Band as they performed upbeat Christmas classics while encouraging the children to sing and dance along with them.
After the entertainment, the children broke off into their classrooms to meet with Collierville UMC members, regular volunteers, and their teachers to create Christmas crafts, listen to holiday stories, and best of all... tear open Christmas presents!
Kris Konsowitz, CUMC Director of Ministries with Young People, commented on the magical night with FirstWorks, "It was such a blessing to all of our volunteers, youth, parents and siblings to cook dinner and provide Christmas crafts for the children. Our Youth Praise Band, under the direction of Brittany Goodrich and Carter Baldwin, practiced for several weeks learning Christmas songs for this event. Everyone had a wonderful time and we look forward to serving at FirstWorks again soon!"