A true sense of community was seen last Thursday and Saturday in Grand Terrace when local community members, organizations and businesses all came together to help families in need and provide toys for children.
Last week, the Community in Unity and Sick N Tired Recovery Home organization held their sixth annual Christmas toy and food giveaway at the Church of Fire in Christ. Together with the Groceries of Love Food Pantry, the Community in Unity was able to give away an abundant amount of food and toys to children of the community on December 19.
Before the day of the groceries and toy giveaway, Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet and Woody’s Classic Grill in Grand Terrace, the two to drop off locations of the event, collected unwrapped toys for children ages 12 and under from December 8th through December 19th.
Both Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet and Woody’s Classic Grill invited all of their guests and customers to donate a new unwrapped toy to help make the holiday season brighter for the children of families in need within the community.
Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet and Woody’s Classic Grill staff and customers did not disappoint as they began overflowing the donation boxes with toys and going above and beyond for the children of this community.
Almost a week prior to the grocery and toy giveaway both boxes at Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet and Woody’s Classic Grill were filled and community members were still coming to donate. Photos on social media showed community member’s cars with trunks completely filled with toys to donate.
As the word spread throughout the community about the toy drive, another organization sprang into action to donate toys but orchestrated the giving of the toys in a festive and fun spectacle. John Gallow, the founder of Cars & Coffee put on a Christmas parade on December 18 to bring the toys to the church.
Community members dressed in sweaters and warm clothing all gathered outside and waited for the cars to cruise down the street. Soon many different old classic vintage cars started parading down the De Berry Street on their way to donate toys. Not only were all the cars classic and vintage but they were all decorated with Christmas lights and festive decorations that made the crowd cheer with delight. The crowd waved, the drivers in the parade honked their horns and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. The parade ended with Santa Claus handing out candy canes to the children who came to view the parade.
After the light spectacular of the car parade the next morning was the groceries and toy giveaway from 10 AM until 1 PM at the Church of Fire in Christ parking lot. Kathy Williams-Braxton, President of the Sick N’ Tired Recovery Home organization and wife of Pastor John Braxton, founder of the Community in Unity, went live on Facebook showing the abundance of toys that were donated stretching across the entire parking lot and then panned over all the tables with food from the groceries of love food pantry as well as the bags of groceries donated by Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet.
Williams-Braxton, thanked all of the partners and sponsors of the groceries and toy giveaway including Asian American Resource Center, Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet, John 3:16 ministries, Margie Miller, Woody’s Classic Grill and all of the community members that came out and donated toys.
Some families were already lined up prior to 10 AM but Williams-Braxton, encouraged even more residents to come out to receive groceries saying even if you may not need groceries, stop by and pick up some food for your neighbors or those who you know in need that could use some groceries.
“God is good; this is not about us, this is about the people, those that are less fortunate, those that lost their jobs, those that can’t even make ends meet, and do need extra food,” Williams-Braxton said.
“This is a heart of my husband and I and this is Church of Fire in Christ.” “Thank you to all our partners, and our sponsorships, and everybody, we thank you and we are thankful, we are grateful with how you blessed Grand Terrace.”
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