{ Christmas }
This past December 23rd saw the largest Christmas Event that the families of Skid Row have ever seen at the Los Angeles Mission. To say that there were incredible crowds would be a huge understatement as the lines wrapped around the block. The day started off in the wee dark hours of the morning with the hustle and bustle of news trucks, rental trucks, volunteers and of course those who work and are in the program at the Los Angeles Mission. There was certainly something special in the air early on and it continued throughout the day.
As the primary sponsor of the event TOYOTA and their 160 team members along with hundreds more volunteers, major donors and VIP’s took the mission by storm and helped to make sure this was going to be an event to remember. For a second year in a row TOYOTA, who never seems to disappoint made sure all of the team members were ready to go with pure energy and joy and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts. Along with TOYOTA, JAKKS Pacific provided the toys for the 5th year in a row to over 1800 children as compared to 1400 from the year before and that was just the start. Not only did each child receive a couple of gifts each, it was the fashion in which they did that set 2011 apart. What was so special about this year was that the Festival of Children Foundation partnered with the Los Angeles Mission to make it the biggest and best Christmas Event ever. A 100x20 foot tent was erected starting at 5am and the volunteers (some decked in elf costumes) loaded in a myriad of Christmas festivities. This included some 35 live trees up to 15 feet talk covered in snow (provided by snow machines of course), 6 foot giant nut cracker soldiers, giant lollipops, a real Old English clock and well as a fully fledged Santa sleigh complete with Santa. How incredible it was to see each child beam with joy as they entered a true Winter Wonderland to receive their toys. Even Hello Kitty along with some incredible crafts, provided by Nakajima USA Inc, made it to the event. The Los Angeles Mission cannot say enough how deeply special this made our Christmas Event.
The day was also made special by guest Chef Ben Ford of Ford’s Filling Station as he added his touch as well as provided many new items to our Christmas menu. This included lemon-rosemary chicken, the Mission’s famous mac-n-cheese, fresh glazed carrots with thyme, a special Winter Fruit Chutney created by Chef Ford, and apple compound butter with dinner rolls along with pie for dessert. Chef Ford was such a pleasure to work with as he rolled up his sleeves and just helped make it happen along with the rest of the Mission’s kitchen staff. We were incredibly thankful for the extra help as we fed over 5000 people that day nearly 1000 more than the last Christmas Event in 2010. As people left we were able to give some 1400 people hygiene kits provided by Mission Ebenezer Family Church and Atherton Baptist a partnership that has continued for years and is a huge blessing here on Skid Row. All in all this was truly a blessed and wonderful day as God’s love was certainly in action right here in the heart of Skid Row. We want to thank everybody from the smallest donation all the way through our title sponsor in TOYOTA as without you this could never become a reality for those who could only dream of something such as this.