VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Jay Height:
Hi, it’s Jay Height, here at Shepherd Community, and it is the most wonderful time of the year. Don’t worry; I’m not going to break out in song. I wouldn’t do that to you or anyone else. But it is Christmas, and we’re excited, and lots of things happening here at Shepherd Community. Yes, we’re still educating kids. We’re still counseling with our neighbors. We’re providing lots and lots of bags of food and sack lunches for our students that are stuck at home. We’re continuing to do a lot of things, and we appreciate your help in making that possible. We are here 12 months out of the year, because friends like you help support us, and so we appreciate that.

Jay Height:
I do want to tell you about a special program this Christmas, that you could be a part of. It’s called our Christmas Store, and if you’ve never experienced it, it really comes out of my own case, where my brother-in-law, he was single at the time, and he would buy my kids lots of toys, lots of toys. And I would tell him two things. His name’s Mark. I’d say, “Mark, buy me something. But two, don’t outdo me; I’m the dad.” And so out of that, we want to empower our parents. And so this Christmas Store is about parents. And we collect new toys, hats, gloves, socks, underwear. The kids really are excited about the socks, the underwear. But we want to be practical and yet give them several new toys.

Jay Height:
And so the question is: How do we do the Christmas Store, COVID 2020? And so I’m excited by the bright minds here at Shepherd Community that came up with a way that we can still accomplish this and help parents provide Christmas to their own children. And so we are going to have those donations. We’re going to set the building up, and then parents will pull up in our driveway, and they’ll take and receive a sanitized iPad. And we’ll take them on a virtual tour through our building, where they will select items they want for their kids. And then we will have volunteers wrap them, and they’ll take the gifts home. And the gifts are from Mom and Dad, not from us, as a way for us to help our families celebrate Christmas.

Jay Height:
And we ask our families to donate five dollars for each kid that they’re shopping for, and this year, we’re going to be supporting Christmas on the reservation, with a group of Navajo, as we want to be givers, as well. And we want our families to know that they have something to help celebrate Christmas, and so we’re sharing the blessing out to Arizona. And you can be a part. Donate new toys, hats, gloves, socks, and underwear. You can call us for more information. You can go online to CaringAtChristmas.org, and you can shop online and have it shipped here, however you want.

Jay Height:
We need your help to provide Christmas this year, in the Near East side of Indianapolis, to several hundred families. And we make sure that all the toys that are left over, we share with other organizations and ministries and churches, to make sure kids get Christmas this Christmas season.

Jay Height:
So thanks for your help, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.