Salvation Army’s Annual Christmas Party

Hundreds of happy faces were at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall in Belize City today. The occasion was the annual Christmas Party hosted by the Salvation Army. Before proceeding to lunch and treats, the students participated in a service and were joined by the folks from City Hall who came bearing gifts. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Six hundred primary school students from twenty-one schools from across the Old Capital were hosted at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall in Belize City. After an hour of service, the children were treated to lunch and ice cream, before they all lined up and provided a gift for the Christmas. It’s the annual Salvation Army Christmas Party.

Joliker Leandre

Joliker Leandre, District Officer, Salvation Army

“It’s the most exciting time for us. Every year, it is something that we have been doing for the past hundred years and we are very excited for the children from various schools coming together—not only to receive gifts, but to have fellowship and to have a grand time together. And this is one of the things that I think really blesses our hearts to see the entire community coming together at this time for this particular event. Christ is the reason for the season and it is not only good to talk about Christ—God loves us and so on—it is more powerful to demonstrate it so that people can see the love of God and can experience it for themselves. So this is a way of impacting the lives of these children from the very beginning to know that the entire community cares for them and loves them. And so if they have nothing else, they can remember they have this time together. It’s a pity we can’t get everybody, but at least we have most of the schools int he city represented here today.”

For several years now, the Belize City Council has been a major contributor for the event—be in financial and in kind. In fact, today, councillors joined Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold to issue the food and gifts to the children.

Oscar Arnold

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor, Belize City Council

“We came onboard a platform that it is all about the people. This is Christmas, it is a time for giving and we like the idea that the Salvation Army is giving back to kids because you all know that in the home, around Christmas time, it is all about the kids, it’s all about family and giving people hope during this time of the year. We have councillors here this morning that will be serving the kids. There’s also financial contributions that were made. Some of the coordination was done by our PR department; they’ve worked quite a bit of hours in trying to help with some of the coordination for the event.”

The Chinese Community donated ice cream to all students, while Grace Kennedy (Belize) Limited provided the drinks. Duane Moody for News Five.