Foster Family Christmas Party
Every year the Clarke/Oconee County Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) throws a Christmas Party for local foster families to enjoy. This year, Chosen for Life Ministries had the privilege of hosting the annual Foster Family Christmas Party! The night was full of games, desserts, gifts, fellowship, and lots of fun. Many churches and community organizations came together to make this event a success, and we are so glad for all the helping hands!
Watkinsville First Baptist Church baked and delivered over 300 cookies for us to give as gifts to local DFCS staff. Through Athens Church's Be Rich Campaign, we had over 50 volunteers help us write and package gifts to DFCS Staff, Foster Families, and CFLM Advocates as well as volunteer with us at the Christmas Party. These volunteers helped us at our stations and served the many children and families. Their presence allowed foster parents to relax and enjoy the party, knowing that there were many eyes watching and ready to care for the children enjoying the party! The stations included a wonderful dessert station, hot chocolate bar, crafts, cookie decorating, snowball bowling, fishing for candy canes, face painting, a photo booth, Christmas bingo, and a Teen Room. We are so thankful for these volunteers, and for the Chosen for Life Board Members and staff who gathered supplies for each station!
DFCS staff were so surprised and thankful for these Christmas gifts - a small 'thank you' for all that they do for families and children in this community!
Thank you so much to Briarwood Baptist Church for allowing us to use their space for our party. It was a perfect space to have families come and enjoy a night of fun! Thank you to Faith Presbyterian Church for supporting the party and allowing us to give great gifts and have beautiful decorations to enjoy all night. Thanks to the generosity of these two churches, we were able to set up a photo booth where families could take fun and silly pictures together, provide supplies to each of the different stations for the night, and send very child home with a special and personalized Christmas ornament!
We can't say thank you enough to the many volunteers who helped us prepare for the party and who volunteered at the different stations!
Athens-Oconee CASA coordinated gifts for the children who attended the party. They worked together with a community Bible study to ensure that families left with plenty of gifts! We are so amazed at the generosity shown by this group of people. Each gift was wrapped beautifully with a hand-written tag to each child. These gifts were so thoughtful, and they filled the room with Christmas spirit! Usborne Books also generously donated books for every foster child at the party. Along with these gifts for the children and teens, we had hand-written cards to give to each foster parent that volunteers from Athens Church wrote to say Merry Christmas. Families and children were all amazed at the gifts laid out on tables for them, and we were so excited to watch them take gifts home at the end of the party!
Enjoy looking through the pictures below of the stations that families were able to enjoy at the party! Thank you to all the families who joined us at the Christmas Party this year, and thank you to the many volunteers and supporters who made the night possible! We hope that each of you felt encouraged and had a wonderful night of fellowship!
