By Ramsey Sullivan Riverbend News
On Wednesday, Dec. 16, to get ready for Christmas, the children and youth in the Grace Baptist Church AWANA were given the opportunity to go "shopping" for Christmas gifts for their family.
AWANA, which stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, at Grace Baptist Church in Mayo, was started just before the pandemic took hold of the United States in March 2020. Due to COVID-19, AWANA was unable to meet until September of 2020. When they began meeting again, they opened the AWANA store, where kids were given the opportunity to "shop" for themselves using shares they earned by memorizing scripture, good behavior, dressing in their AWANA uniform and more.
When the Christmas season rolled around, AWANA wanted to do something special for the kids and their families. Instead of the AWANA store being stocked with candy, toys and drinks for the kids as it normally is, it was stocked with gifts that fathers, mothers, grandparents and even siblings would like to receive. All of the gifts were donated by the congregation and each child was able to choose two things they wanted to give their family members for Christmas, free of charge.
"The kids were more excited about this store than they normally are when they can get gifts for themselves," said AWANA director at Grace Baptist Church, Alicia Poole.
Not only did the children get to choose two gifts for their family members, they also had their gifts wrapped by the youth and some congregation members so their gifts would be ready to put under the tree when they got home.
About 15 kids were able to get gifts for their family members from this AWANA event this Christmas. The goal of using the shop in this way was to focus on giving during the Christmas season, which is a lesson the children won't soon forget.
AWANA at Grace Baptist Church meets on Wednesday nights from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dinner is served at 6 p.m., free of charge, and the AWANA program begins at 6:30 p.m. Grace Baptist Church is located at 5196 US-27, in Mayo.