ARTICLES

Jesse Tree gifts bring joy to 82 Lynchburg homes

Among the Social Ministries programs at Holy Cross parish in Lynchburg is the annual Jesse Tree.

This Christmas tradition in the parish goes back to much earlier days, but each year the Jesse Tree effort has grown, serving more area families.

This past Christmas a record 82 households were blessed with Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets, Christmas gifts, home-baked goodies, gently used household items, and even Christmas stockings for the younger children.

In all, 575 Christmas gifts, 97 stockings and a generous measure of clothing, linens and household items were distributed. The food baskets all included dry goods and canned goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, ham, bread and baked goods.

Recipients included families identified by the Interfaith Outreach Association, Social Services, Holy Cross, neighborhood organizations, and a local nursing home.

A small team began planning back in the spring of 2007. A schedule was in place by August. Parishioners brought in lots of great stocking stuffers during a Christmas Stockings in August drive.

The various helping agencies were contacted and on board by September. Individual families were visited and needs identified during October.

Construction paper “ornaments” identifying hoped-for presents were prepared in November. New this year was a sketch of Holy Cross Church on each one.

On November 17 Thanksgiving food baskets were assembled and delivered. On Thanksgiving Weekend the Jesse Tree appeared in the Commons, decorated with yellow ornaments for gifts, red ornaments for baked goods and green ornaments for cash contributions.

Parishioners promptly signed out ornaments and brought in the wrapped gifts, so that a festive mountain of packages began to grow by the altar. On December 18 parishioners “sorted” the gifts from the altar into 82 temporarily numbered spaces in the pews, one for each household. Stockings were stuffed and added. The pews were filled!

Over the next two days delivery bags were packed and lists were checked twice. Last minute shoppers filled in any gaps. Meanwhile the Food Pantry folks prepared the Christmas food baskets and bakers brought in all of the goodies.

Early Saturday morning, December 22, everything came together as a bounty of perishable items was added to the food baskets. Then all was ready for pick up or delivery.

By noon the bustling Jesse Tree assembly lines were gone, and the church, now quiet, had a 1 o’clock wedding!

While in homes across town, Christmas gifts bore the legend, “Merry Christmas from Holy Cross Catholic Church.”

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