On Friday, December 16th, the MYP hosted their annual Christmas Day event at Holy Trinity Church in Whitestone, NY. The Team decided to take a different approach tis year – no talks, just experiences. The rectors were Dina DePaola & Diana Roach, with additional support from Cathy Bischoff & Tom Leavens. The team that worked the event were Jean (Bena) Pedri, Mary Leavens, John Fodera & Kerin (Carty) Kriegsman (special guest Joe Leone assisted as well).
After the initial arrivals, the teens & team participated in an icebreaker that asked them to write down their favorite Christmas song. Then, everyone had to find people (while introducing themselves to each other) that matched their choice. The groups then had to sing a verse of their song. Following this, dinner was served and eaten by candlelight.
The next experience was the “Gift of Service,” where twenty-five gift bags of food were put together for families in need in the College Point area. The group then went to the Church where the teens & team sat on blankets situated in front of the Nativity. That experience began with a meditation of “O Holy Night,” followed by the reading of the children’s story, “Christmas Day in the Morning.”
After a Large Group discussion about the story, the group entered the Church that was dimly lit with tea lights for the concluding Prayer Service. That experience included group prayer, reading the story of the Nativity (Luke 2: 8-16), and responses to prayer requests with the phrase, “Be with us.”
This event was the perfect way to enter the last week of Advent and approach Christmas.
A huge contribution to the success of this event was the money raised for families in need in the College Point area. Over $3,000.00 was raised (second year in a row) that was donated for food and comfort items—all donated by just asking the MYP Community for help. Thank you for being a part of this request (monetarily or prayerfully).