Big Brothers Big Sisters Christmas party held at Lewes Church of Christ

Lewes Church of Christ members welcomed 90 children and their mentors from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware to the annual Christmas Party held in their honor Dec. 13. The event was open to all BBBSDE mentors throughout Sussex County to sign up to participate, and most towns were represented.

Mentors in the BBBSDE program are referred to as Big Brothers or Big Sisters, and the children with whom they are matched are called Little Brothers or Little Sisters. Families of the church sponsored individual Littles and presented them with gifts they had purchased for them.

The gifts were personalized for each Little through a Christmas Party Survey form that was completed by the child and returned to the BBBSDE office for review and submission to the church. Dawn Bell, administrative coordinator for the Lewes Church of Christ, solicited sponsors for each Little and provided the child’s wish list to the sponsoring family. The gifts were purchased and wrapped by the family and taken to the church for the party.

Bell and her staff of volunteers coordinated the entire event and worked closely with Senior Minister Mark Magee and Minister of Discipleship Adam Woods to present an outstanding program for the Bigs, Littles and church members. The event was interactive with attendees participating in numerous dance contests.

The youth of the church presented a play with a Star Wars theme that was creatively used to present the story of the Jesus’ birth. Members of the church provided the event with over 3,200 home-baked cookies of various flavors. The culminating event of the evening was the distribution and opening of the gifts given to the Littles by their sponsoring family.

Brad Spicer, program director for BBBSDE in Sussex County, and his case managers, Nancy Raihall and Joe Brake, thanked Lewes Church of Christ pastor Mark Magee and his staff for hosting the event and presented church representative Dawn Bell, with a certificate of appreciation from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Delaware.

For more information or to apply to become a Big Brother or Big Sister, contact Brad Spicer at 302-856-2918 or go to www.bbbsde.org.