St. Irenaeus Care Ministry in Cypress asked for the help of teachers and students at St. Irenaeus School and parishioners of St. Irenaeus Church to share the Christmas Spirit with residents of local Care Centers and Homebound Parishioners through their Annual “Giving Tree” Outreach Project.
Starting in November, Health Ministry Board members began preparing over 400 paper bags for their Christmas Giving Tree Project. Teachers and students were asked to help decorate the bags for men and women who reside in the five Care Centers that are within the boundaries of St. Irenaeus Parish. Health Ministry members visit these five Care Centers each week to pray the rosary or conduct Eucharistic services so they know many of these residents personally. In addition, St. Irenaeus parish priests celebrate Mass once a month at each of these Care Centers.
On the first weekend of December, St. Irenaeus parishioners were offered the opportunity to participate in the Giving Tree Project by filling the decorated brown bags with items from a suggested list of gifts for the men and women at the Care Centers and the Homebound Parishioners. St. Irenaeus parishioners responded quickly and generously so that by December 12, the new “Brides’s Room” in the church was filled with the brown paper bags overflowing with gifts!
Parishioners were invited to attend the Christmas parties where their gift bags would be presented. They also were asked if they wanted to join in the singing of carols and other holiday songs and help deliver the gift bags to those who were bedridden. Some parishioners responded positively and came to the parties to experience the joy of giving.
Gifts delivered with songs and love
During the week of December 12-16, teams of Health Ministry members delivered the filled gift bags to Harvest Retirement and Knott Care Center in Buena Park, Sunrise Assisted Living in La Palma and Genesis and Karlton Care Center in Anaheim. They were joined by St. Irenaeus Adult Choir members, parishioners, and different groups of people at each place. The residents all seemed to enjoy listening to and joining in singing familiar holiday songs. They liked the surprises they received in their gift bags, especially lap blankets.
The Christmas parties at two of the Care Centers were full of parishioners and young people, at Harvest Retirement and at Sunrise in La Palma. At Harvest Retirement, residents were treated to extra special surprise performances of carols played on the piano by Michael Pace, holiday songs performed by violin teacher Margie Chan and her violin students, and other Christmas songs led by St. Irenaeus Choir members accompanied by ukulele and jingle bells. Santa Troy Kissell was accompanied by his mother Lucy Kissell dressed as Mrs. Claus, and his grandmother Grace Francis and his two children dressed as elves as they delivered gift bags to residents at the party. Troy’s wife Cindy was one of the leaders of Scout Troop 660 who brought scouts dressed in uniform to help sing and deliver gift bags who were in their rooms. It was a wonderful gift giving time for the Kissell family and the residents loved seeing them all dressed in holiday outfits! It was the only party that was held at night starting at 7:00 p.m. and included some fathers who came with the scouts.
At Sunrise Assisted Living in La Palma, students from Mrs. Cathy Corkhill’s Sixth Grade Class at St. Irenaeus School and some of their parents, came with bags filled with gifts. They each made a lap blanket and wanted to personally give their bags to residents in their colorfully decorated bags. The students joyfully joined in singing carols and other holiday songs with choir members and Health Ministry members. The appearance of Santa Vickie Larson brought smiles to the faces of the students and the residents alike as Santa enthusiastically joined in singing all the familiar and favorite songs including “Silver Bells,” “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night” and “Rudolf.” Santa especially enjoyed joining the singing of the song, “Must be Santa!” as she moved around the room greeting people. Santa presented each person with a gift bag, a hug and sometimes a kiss!
The Sixth Grade students were Santa’s elves and helped to carry the gift bags for Santa as they were presented to each person in the dining room and later to residents in their rooms. While the students were delivering the gift bags, Lexington Jr. High students Juliana and Angelina Daubert entertained residents by playing two holiday songs on the piano. All the students showed their youthful enthusiasm as they sang “We wish you a Merry Christmas” and “Feliz Navidad” to all the residents at Sunrise.
Mrs. Grace Francis oversees and visits all five of the Care Centers each week. She said that she appreciated all the singers and volunteers who helped to make the Christmas parties such a joyful event for the residents of the Care Centers. She especially wanted to thank people who volunteered to be a Santa, including her grandson Troy Kissell, John Lewallen and Vickie Larson. Vickie enjoyed being Santa so much that she volunteered to be Santa at three of the five Care Centers.
Mrs. Francis also said that she was so grateful for the generosity of all the parishioners of St. Irenaeus who made it possible to bring gifts to residents of the Care Centers. She said that gift bags will be delivered later to Homebound Parishioners of St. Irenaeus.
Volunteers needed for Health Care Ministry
The Giving Tree Project for 2016 came to an end on December 16, but evangelization still continues each week at the Care Centers. People who would like to join Health Care Ministry members and bring the Good News of Christ to residents of the Care Centers can contact Grace Francis at 714-742-0960 or contact Sr. Rita O’Connell at 714-826-0760.
Editor’s note: St. Irenaeus Parish is located at 5201 Evergreen Ave. in Cypress, between Lincoln Ave. and Orange Ave.
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