CLCC blesses children this holiday season

BY Pat Van Dyke

Canyon Lake Community Church (CLCC) is making a difference for children around the world and locally this Christmas season. For the 16th consecutive year, CLCC participated in Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse.

This Christmas season, members of the church and community filled 400 shoe boxes with gifts, such as small toys, hygiene items and school supplies, to be sent to underprivileged children. Over the years, a total of 5,610 shoeboxes have been filled by adults and children from CLCC to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world.

After the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes were on their way to the distribution centers, CLCC shifted its focus and participated in Angel Tree, a program of Prison Fellowship which reaches out to the children of prisoners and their families with the love of Christ.

Approximately 2.7 million children in America have an incarcerated parent. Angel Tree provides incarcerated parents with a pathway for strengthening and restoring their relationships with their children and families.

Since 1998, CLCC has helped to brighten the lives of 90 local children by purchasing, wrapping, and delivering gifts on the behalf of their incarcerated parent. Children in Canyon Lake, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, and Perris are blessed by this program.

This past week, church attenders were given the opportunity to select an angel from the church’s Angel Tree and purchase the item desired by the child. The angel chosen includes the name of  the child, gift desired and a short note from the incarcerated parent.

The purchased item is brought to the church, wrapped and delivered by volunteers to the home of the child. At the time of the delivery, the Christmas story is shared with the child and their family.

A total of 180 gifts will be distributed by CLCC volunteers as each child receives a toy and an item of clothing.

Community members insterested in contributing to the Angel Tree Project are asked to contact Bev and Steve Haney at 951-768-5868.