Salvation Army Host Children’s Christmas Dinner 2022

Salvation Army Belize held its annual children’s Christmas dinner inside the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall in Belize City. Over six hundred children from four schools gathered inside the hall for a morning of entertainment, gift-giving, and food. The schools represented were Saint John Vianney Primary, Holy Redeemer Primary, Saint John’s Anglican Primary and the Unity Presbyterian Primary. We spoke with the organizers about the fun time for the children. Here is what they told us.

Jonathan Kellman

Major Jonathan Kellman, District Commander, Salvation Army

“It is an exciting event. You could hear the noise in the background. I sound a bit tired because we have been working up towards this event. but as I was on earlier in the week sharing about our fund raising this is the first event we have, first major one. I hope people can see where their money goes when they contribute. It is an exciting time having all these children together. We have almost six hundred children in there. You feel the energy, excitement, love, hope today. It is going to be some eating and drinking but also some entertainment from four selected primary schools and then we have a special group of dancers coming in at the end.”

Julie-Ann Ellis Bradley

Julie-Ann Ellis Bradley, Chairperson, Salvation Army Belize.

“Due to COVID, we were not able to have the annual Salvation Army Christmas treat. This year is the first time we are having it after the hiatus due to COVID. So, as you can see the children are having a wonderful time and we are so happy that we could make this possible again this year. We have a bit of changes. We had to get the gifts and the treats. We try to do a spread the whole table, turkey dinner and everything. But, we have to be sensitive to the times and we are now, as you can see, the kids are getting ice-cream, cake and they do have a gift that they will each receive today.”

The Belize City Council, The Chinese Association, and Grace Kennedy Belize Limited partnered with the Salvation Army to make this event possible.