Christmas in July! ~ July 2024

We are “Celebrating” Christmas in July as a way to support children in need through two of our mission partners: KidVantage and Lantern Hill.  These two organizations are in great need of our support to meet the needs of the children they help.

KidVantage really struggles getting enough new toys (especially ages 0-2 and 7-12) to see that the kids (especially new refugees from Afghanistan, Somalia and Venezuela) they support receive something special for Christmas. KidVantage is one of the few agencies to give out actual toys instead of a gift card. Last December they had requests for over 2800 holiday bags! KidVantage’s other greatest need is gently used clothing, especially PANTS for school-age children (sizes 6-14) and 7+ age gently used toys such as games, crafts, and legos. Anything donated is greatly appreciated to give these kids a chance to thrive.

Lantern Hill provides educational support and meals to 100 children. During the school year this involves help with homework and challenging assignments, support, and motivation for their learning and snacks for hungry bellies. During the summer, when school is out, there is summer programming with tons of new programs, engaging activities and hungry mouths to feed.

During the month of July, you will find a Christmas tree in the Narthex.  On the tree are tags identifying items we want to provide to help these two mission partners. Some of the tags will identify new toys for KidVantage. The other tags will identify dollar amounts for Lantern Hill to help them continue their support of the kids. No tags are needed for used clothing/toys/games donated to KidVantage.

You can help by taking a tag (or tags!) from the tree and providing that item or items back to church during July.

• For KidVantage this is buying the new toy identified on the tag and bringing it to church.
• For Lantern Hill, it is providing this amount in a check payable to Saint Andrew’s with Lantern Hill on the memo line.  There will be a decorated shoe box for Lantern Hill donations.

How our donations help the children at Lantern Hill:
(Examples of what your donations can accomplish.)

$10 – 10 meals for students. This includes the cost of food and staff to prepare.
$15 – 1 bus pass for 1 week to allow a student to get to High School or University.
$25 – 1 teacher’s salary for 1 day
$25 – 1 student uniform per year
$50 – Water costs per week. This includes water for facilities as well as bottled water for drinking.
$100 – 3 weeks of electricity and internet for the program
$250 – 1 month rent on the 2 properties we need to rent for the program
$500 – University tuition for 1 student for 1 year
*** All donations will go to supporting the kids and the program.

How we will help kids through KidVantage:

We will provide new toys for birthdays (and in preparation for Christmas) through the tags on the tree.
We will also collect new and gently used items to provide ongoing support for kids 0 – 12 years old. We will have an additional collection box for these items:

Any amount of new and gently used toys, games, puzzles, stuffies, crafts/coloring books, books especially board books.
– high demand items last Christmas for holiday bags were legos, pokemon, squishmallows, board/card games, barbies, craft kits and cars

Any amount and kind of new and gently used children’s clothing and shoes.
– high demand clothing items during the winter season were winter coats, hats, gloves, umbrellas
– Current high demand items:
• Boy’s clothing: size 12-14 (especially long sleeves/jackets)
• Children’s pants sizes 2T-14 (especially size 5 girls and size 14 boys)
• Boys shoes sizes 3Y and 11&12C
• Children raincoats