While growing up in a small urban city in Mississippi, one of the ways society afforded me privileges was through the support of the community churches. I can remember when the local community center provided toys from Santa Claus for all the children in the neighborhood annually. The Holy Rosary Church, a Catholic organization had a party for the children and allowed us to dance the evening away. However, I felt this was a privilege because many of families were single, poor, and needed supplement things to fulfill the Christmas holidays. Every family received a big box as well with clothes which consisted of a turkey, canned goods, rice, vegetable, and etc. This was an opportunity for me to connect with friends. This annually event
Last semester, I planned my first outreach event at the church. We had bounce houses, face painting, food, games, and candy. I worked so hard to get this put together and even members of the church used their own money to purchase things to make this event happened. There was door to door evangelizing going on in the surrounding neighborhoods to get the word out, and there were only two people in the community that showed up. Two people.
Forty seconds left until game time. Here we go again, versing one of our biggest rivals, Belleville West. As usual, I’m starting. Defense has always been my go to position and this year I’m playing right back. The air around us is cold, considering we aren’t quite in spring yet. Eleven of us disperse on to the field, all in blue, determined to win. The referee blows his whistle, piercing our ears, and twenty two pairs of feet stir into action. Our back line is staring at the ball move towards the goal when suddenly things turn around. Hurriedly we shift to the left, ensuring the ball is put to a stop. Hannah boots the ball up the long green field and we’re all hopeful. West is playing hard; aggressive is their style. They win possession. Back
"BGCA Helps Parents Inspire Their Kids to Give Back During Holidays." Boys & Girls Clubs of America. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
One of my strongest memories of our time in Iowa was from the first few weeks that we lived in the rental house. We had moved from the gigantic Georgia house into the cramped, smelly rental house. This move felt really different than the last one. We always knew that we would move but I don’t think that we envisioned us living in Iowa. Ammon was bored (which is never a good sign), Jaci seemed indifferent (which was a pretty good sign) and I was pretty on edge. One day Jaci, Ammon, and I started fighting about something, I don’t remember what, I vaguely remember it being related to the bathroom. Being the good mother that you are, you stopped the fight but it was too late for me; the cumulative effect of everything that had happened over the
Have you ever wanted to go to Louisiana? I was excited when my dad told me that my parents and I was going. I wanted to try the food there. It was cool going to a different state. I wanted to live there.
I live in a historically black neighborhood on the edge of Annapolis, MD, about five miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The neighborhood was once a single large farm on a small peninsula between several small creeks emptying into the Bay. It was inhabited by several black families freed after the Civil War; the Johnsons and the Browns and the Pecks. My house is a former part of the Johnson property. These days the neighborhood, “Brown’s Woods”, is like a checkerboard, racially, socially, and economically. There are old shacks and cottages, there are million dollar waterfront homes, and then there is everything in between.
To be a Chicagoan is to be a witness to the beauty of adversity, amazing food, and impossible diversity. Growing up in Chicago has engendered my passion for community organizing, and the importance of traditional and holistic education.
Christmas used to be a time when families gathered and love enclosed each member. Meals and stories were shared and times were simpler. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Mass were special times for families to sit back in a pew and remember the true meaning of Christmas as carols were sung in the high choirs. This serenity and peace seems to be a thing of the past. Now, people are drowning in the pressure that Christmas is all about presents, and that unwrapping gifts on Christmas morning is what this joyous occasion is centered around. Another misconceived thought is that Christmas has to be bought and given away in order to have a good time. In 2010, a stunning “4.8 million people [found] time on Christmas Day to go online and shop.” On the contrary, only “4.5 million people who attend an Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist or Pentecostal church,” was present in church on Christmas Day. The thought that shopping is more important than the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is appalling to Christians throughout the world.
I learned about the importance of giving back at the age of 11yr old and putting the very important needs of others in front of my own. Volunteering in a homeless shelter at a young age opened my eyes. Where I was placed to give food, clothes, money & hygiene products to people in need. Where would I be right now without the help of God, my mother, family& friends and the church community”. Giving a helping hand to the people in the community is Something we should always do. In the ("bible Acts 20:35 says in everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the lord Jesus himself said: it is more blessed to give than to receive"). Having a compassionate heart for the community blesses the congregation.
Growing up in Bridgeville, an average neighborhood, in Pennsylvania, I thought I was sheltered and deprived from other cultures, until I began taking my Early Childhood classes. I quickly learned that in fact I was surrounded by many different cultures. Growing up all the schools in the area were let out around the same time after school all the neighborhood kids would go inside for about an hour but after that one hour the streets would be filled with kids well at least the block I lived on anyway my mom always encouraged me to play outside but not leave the block; children would walk their dogs, ride bikes, play street hockey, skate, swim in yard, and so much more. Today think back there were a lot of white and black families in the neighborhood. I remember one day I wanted to play with my next door neighbor but she was not allowed to come outside because of Passover. Being Catholic and seven years old I didn’t know what it meant I just remember being mad she couldn’t play with me. It makes me kind of sad thinking about this because today you may see a kid here or there around the neighborhood but they are walking and texting and are engulfed in their cellphones and technology.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas, the classic Christmas carol It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year can be heard just about anywhere. Its lighthearted tune and cheerful lyrics, “With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings. When friends come to call. It’s the hap-happiest season of all” it is easy to become entranced with the song (Williams). It is true Christmas is the happiest season for a Savior was born. However, the happiness of Jesus does not last just season but a lifetime. Christmas provides a perfect opportunity for parish leaders to engage parishioners in conversations about virtues for without them own cannot obtain the happiness of a lifetime, but only for a season. The hustle and bustle of
Christmas is a holiday celebrated by many nations and religions around the world. The spirit of Christmas causes people to come together. It is one of the most favorite times of the year involving gift giving and merry making. To celebrate Christmas people decorate their homes, churches, and other buildings in which fellowship may take place. They may do this with ribbon, holly, mistletoe, and decking them with silver and gold. But where did all these traditions originate? Now, many believe that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus's birth. The truth is that all of these customs from Christmas pre-date our Lord's birth entirely! Christmas today is just a collection of traditions put together to make the holiday we celebrate every year on December
The festival that I am doing is considered to be a big diverse holiday that is celebrated each December for a period of time. The preparing for Christmas is called Advent and begins on a Sunday four weeks before Christmas till after New Year’s. Christmas was originated because of Christ’s birth Christmas is a holiday shared and celebrated by many religions. It is a day that has happy and memorable feelings around the entire world. To a lot people it is a Joyous time of the year giving and receiving gift, parties and a lot of eating for days. Christmas is a holiday that brings almost all christens of and many other cultures and religions together at the same time of the year. The feeling of Christmas makes most people decorate their homes and churches, get trees and bring them into their homes, prettying them up with silver and gold. ( Jesus Birth. unknown. N/A, N/A.)
“I do come from a family where a lot of them feel that there needs to be a focus on religion and Christmas now, but I do think that Christmas as a religious holiday has been very disconnected from that,” said Renee DeLora, senior. “It’s a good unifying
In many ways Christmas is similar to Thanksgiving in the way we celebrate it. We switch sides, sometimes Christmas is at our house, tons of food is made and we play games. Depending on what side of the family we’re spending Christmas with, there’s a theme, for example, about two or three years ago we spent Christmas with my mom’s side of the family and it was a pajama party and last Christmas we spent with my dad’s side the theme was ugly Christmas sweaters. Every year no matter where we spend Christmas, we always have to get some of my great grandma’s amazing and delicious Champurrado. She makes Champurrado every single year, she won’t tell anyone how she makes it for some reason, but her Champurrado is like heaven in a cup. On both sides of my family,it’s tradition for us get together on Christmas Eve and we have dinner, watch movies, play games, and even take naps, all until midnight and that’s when we open our presents. Also, on both sides, the adults do White Elephant and sometimes depending on what the majority vote is, they’ll do a secret santa exchange. The only thing my mom’s side of the family does differently than my dad’s, is that prior to getting together on Christmas Eve, the adults put each kid’s name in a hat and each person draws a name, and the name they draw is the kid they have to buy a gift for, and they’ll say the least or most amount of money they can spend on that gift.