As the Christmas holidays draw near, many non-governmental organizations in San Pedro Town provide gifts to the less fortunate children of the island. One of them is Living Word Church (LWC), who has been hosting their annual Toy Drive for eight years. This year their Toy Drive is scheduled to take place on Friday, December 21st at the Honorable Slyvestre Sporting Complex.
LWC believes that the Christmas season can be overwhelming and stressful for some parents who may not be financially stable enough to provide a gift for their children during the holidays. LWC seeks to provide a gift for all children in need to alleviate some of that stress. Last year a total of 1,000 toys were distributed, which means 1,000 happy children! Each child also received a drink and a cupcake.
On Wednesday, November 12th, the first board meeting for the annual toy drive was held. Present at the meeting was Carol McCann of Ambergris Caye Realty, Dawna Roy, Pastor of Living Word Church Ian Zaldivar, Tropic Air President Johnny Grief and Joel Nagel of Caye International Bank.
“Living Word Church’s Toy Drive is based on the belief that every child, regardless of their economic state, deserves to feel special and receive a gift in the spirit of Christmas,” said board member Nagel. Grief also believes that during this season, it is the time to help out the less fortunate. “One of the primary tenets of Christianity after salvation is to help the underprivileged. The Living Word Church’s annual toy drive is a beautiful example of this,” he said.
This year’s goal is to fundraise a total of $30,000 BZ, with the aim to exceed the number of gifts from last year, as well as to provide holiday food baskets to less fortunate families. For any person or business that is interested in assisting LWC financially, you can email Pastor Zaldivar at [email protected].
