Two City Harvest cell groups show what the “season of giving” really means by blessing children at Harvest Kidz with brunch and bicycles.
On Dec 9, Harvest Kidz worked together with two cell groups in CHC to make C this Christmas truly special for over 550 children. Harvest Kidz is CHC’s children’s service.
The “Brunch With Love” event was held in Suntec Singapore before Harvest Kidz’s Sunday service at 2pm. The members from the two cell groups treated more than 550 children to lunch, and brought 150 children from low-income families, vouchers, bicycles and other gifts.
“Our cell group does a gift exchange every year during Christmas,” said 40-year-old trader Joachim Ong, whose cell group provided the food. “But really, how many candles, lip balms and photo frames do you need? Rather than giving more such gifts, we felt we should take the money and give the children a treat.”
As the children started streaming into the hall for the event, their eyes lit up at the variety of food awaiting them. Members from both cell groups served the children and mingled with them.
The atmosphere was loud and joyful. Excitement radiated from the children as they feasted on bento sets, donuts, Christmas cakes and an assortment of drinks.
After the performance of a song, “The Gift Goes On”, the children went onstage to receive their gifts. A photo-taking session followed, with the kids showing off their new gifts and vouchers.
At the event, 31 bicycles were given out to the younger children. A number of these bicycles had been hand-assembled by the staff of CHC during a special team-building session conducted by yet another cell group, led by Sherie Ng.
“We wanted to bless the church staff with a morning of fun activities,” explained Ng. Her cell group sponsored the bicycle parts and conducted the team-building session for the staff. “That morning, 150 church staff came together to build the bicycles. It was a session of great fun and activity. The products were then given to the little children, translating into many more sessions of joy.”
This was a significant act of love, said Harvest Kidz pastor, Eileen Toh, adding, “I’m very thankful to the cell groups for bringing joy and happiness to our community kids. Many of them don’t know what it means to celebrate Christmas because their parents are non-Christians. For some of them, this is their first time experiencing a Christmas feast.”
