CRESTVIEW — First Presbyterian Church of Crestview is accepting Christmas cookies for prisoners.

Here are the guidelines:

• Cookies must be homemade (from scratch) or home baked (with premade dough).
• Use snap-style sandwich bags only.
• Include no letters, notes or cards. These items are considered contraband.
• No soft icing or cream filling, which could result in smashed cookies.

Contact the church office, 682-2835, for more details. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Christmas cookies wanted for Crestview prisoners

CRESTVIEW — Many people either start their holiday shopping or catch last-minute bargains on Black Friday. This year, Lifepoint’s Kids Mart at 998 S. Ferdon Blvd. joined in the fun.

The store sells new and gently used items for babies, kids and teens. Items include clothes, shoes, toys, nursery items, car seats and blankets at bargain prices. Proceeds help hundreds of local children in foster care.

“Kids Mart was started in the Shriners Building about eight years ago by a local woman,” Crestview resident Lisa Brennan, the store’s director, said. “I purchased Kids Mart about four years ago. We held pop-up sales about five times a year in the area. I kept all donations stored at my house.”

A year ago, the store merged with Lifepoint Church, where Brennan and her husband, Tim, are members. In July and September, the store held sales in the church gym. They raised over $10,000 in four days; all proceeds went to local foster children.

Lifepoint Church and the Rev. Mark English leased a building on South Ferdon with the Brennans for Kids Mart. The lease was finalized Nov. 3 and the Brennans and volunteers spent the past few weeks fixing up the building. 

“Pastor English has already said that if things go well, we will move on to a bigger building,” Brennan said.

Kids Mart became a charitable organization for local foster children two years ago, according to Brennan, who said her best friend, Shirley Hayes, always helped with Kids Mart before she died from cancer.

“I thought that the best way to honor her and the children was to have all the proceeds go to local foster children. All of the angel wings you see in our building are in honor of her. We take foster children under our wings,” Brennan said.

Lifepoint’s Kids Mart accepts donations, consignments and volunteers year-round.

The Brennans’ daughter, Lauren Simmons, helps, along with her 5-year-old son, Xavier, who passes out candy canes. Brennan’s close friend, Christina Stjean, and Bobbie Barlow and her daughter, Charlotte, also volunteer.

Hours are Mondays and Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Helping children 365 days a year

CRESTVIEW — A new store will provide more than deals on children’s items; it will benefit North Okaloosa County foster families.

Lifepoint Kids Mart’s grand opening, which began Nov. 25, continues 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 26 at 998 S. Ferdon Blvd., Crestview, next to the Tactical Gear camouflage building. The event includes photos with Santa Claus, a clearance tent, and low prices on new and gently used items for kids and teenagers.

The photo fundraiser includes a 4-by-6-inch photo with Santa, for a donation; various packages are available after that. Proceeds and all sales will benefit children and families in the foster care system, Lisa Brennan, the store’s director, said.

The store, familiar to many Crestview residents, will be open year-round. Hours are Mondays and Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

So, how did it all begin?

Brennan purchased Kids Mart from its previous owner, who twice a year had so-called pop-up sales of gently used baby and kid items. From those sales, the company gradually expanded and became a charity to honor Brennan's best friend, Shirley Hayles, who died of throat cancer in 2014.

"She lived in Pensacola, but she was a true volunteer,” Brennan said. “She showed up to everything, no matter what it was I was trying to do. She showed up even when she had a voice box (due to the cancer).

"At that point we saw a lot of people coming in who needed help … so we turned it into a charity and called it Shirley's Little Angels," Brennan said of the moment she and her husband Timothy, made that decision.

Now, as a volunteer director, Brennan and 10 to 15 Lifepoint Church volunteers prepare inventory, sell merchandise and take care of other LKM tasks.

How are sales?

“We used to average $2,000 to $3,000 gross sales in two days,” she said. “Since we merged with Lifepoint, we have almost tripled that number, which is why we rented a building and will be open five days a week.”

Brennan said the organization has made enough money over the past couple of years that they donate items to foster families who can't afford them. They still have enough inventory to sell and provide money for other levels of support.

"Any foster care kids in this end of the county, we take care of. If they say, ‘I need clothes,’ we get clothes. Most of the time, we have what they need or I go find what they need," she said, mentioning one instance where a foster family took in one infant in an afternoon and had to source a bed for the child.

Though sales growth is expected, the goal for those proceeds will remain the same, Brennan said.

“We will be able to help so many more families in this area,” she said.     

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Helping foster families — one sale at a time

Before you go on a trip, what do you do? You prepare.

First, you select your destination and how you will get there. Then you determine what you would like to do once you arrive. Then the cost for the excursion is ascertained and taken into account. You check the climate of your destination and pack accordingly. Will you take your own food or eat out every meal?

If you have pets, you need to arrange for their care in your absence. If you will be gone for a length of time, you may want to put a hold on your mail and newspaper delivery. And once all is ready, you head out the door — ensuring several times that the door is locked securely. There are many details that need to be tended to before you can leave.

Often, it is a good practice to prepare a bit each day well ahead of your departure. Otherwise, there will most likely be a last-minute rush to get everything done; some things will be forgotten; tempers might tend to flare; and anguish expressed for not having prepared.

The First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Christian New Year, is Nov. 27. It begins the annual journey to Bethlehem and the beginning of new life for God’s children. The journey culminates at the manger in a stable when we celebrate God’s incarnation in the baby Jesus.

What kind of a trip will you make during the next four weeks? Will your Christmas celebration be a journey for which you prepare a bit each day? Or will it be a mad rush at the end?

Yes, there is much to do between now and Dec. 25. Yes, enjoy the shopping and decorating. Yes, enjoy the parties and camaraderie. At the same time, remember that the most important preparation needs to be your heart and soul.

Remember to prepare your heart and soul amid all other preparations. Remain focused on why there is all this preparation for Christmas: It is the celebration of God coming into this world to free humanity from the burdens of its sinful ways and win us back to him.

So, as the prophet declares: Prepare a way for the Lord! Clear a straight path for him, straight to your heart.

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Prepare your heart, soul for Christmas

CRESTVIEW — Area churches and organizations are in the final stages of Operation Christmas Child collections.

OCC, a Samaritan's Purse International Relief program, involves sending shoeboxes of Christmas presents and information on Christianity to needy children around the world.

Kenny Hancock, Emmanuel Baptist Church’s children's pastor, said EBC started handing out boxes Oct. 2. Of 400 empty boxes volunteers picked up, 347 were filled.

Emmanuel annually participates in the event, Hancock said.

"We have moms and dads and their kids go out together and fill boxes for families they've never even met … I have kids coming in smiling every single Sunday to turn in a box. It's really nice to see," Hancock said.

"The kids come to realize that giving is a very important part of their faith. Every child that receives a box from them will also get to hear the gospel of Jesus in every country that they live. They get to experience the love of Jesus from a person they've never met, in a country they've never been to."

‘IT’S JUST A BLESSING’

More boxes will be turned into Joy Fellowship Church, another OCC drop-off location.

Rick Watkins, of Joy Fellowship, said he and his wife, Gina, asked church pastor Dale Walters to start the program there five years ago.

"It's just a blessing to us. The potential's just unlimited. We like to say, 'We count the boxes, but God has made that box. God knows the child that box is going to go to already.'”

Over the years, Watkins has heard about the program's results from shoebox recipients who visited the area.

"It's amazing, the stories you hear about a child opening a box and it's exactly what they prayed for or exactly what they needed," he said.

One recipient, a native of the country of Panama, now lives in Kentucky. The man still has the OCC shoebox he received when he was 6 years old.

"Children cannot go to school in a lot of countries unless they have their own school supplies. He didn't know anything about Christ, and a friend took him to church the next day and he got a shoebox with all the school supplies he needed," Watkins said.

REMEMBERING ALL CHILDREN

If donors don't have an age preference, Watkins and his wife recommend preparing boxes for 14-year-olds who get the fewest shoeboxes out of all age groups.

"Fourteen is the cutoff because internationally it tends to be at the age of 15 that children in orphanages are put out on the street. That is why it's important to get a shoe box to them and put Christ in their lives," Watkins said.

They're also important because in addition to fun items like toys, boxes for those teenagers can include flashlights, screwdrivers, sewing materials, scissors and other items the children can use to start a trade and support themselves and their families.

That shoebox may be the only gift a child ever receives.

"A child doesn't get a shoebox every year. They only ever get one shoebox. The majority of these children have never gotten anything in their lives," Watkins said.

‘THEY’RE SO WILLING TO GIVE’

As part of the OCC Emerald Coast Team, Joy Fellowship is the final stop for Crestview, Okaloosa and Walton collections, and after the last boxes are received Nov. 21, volunteers load them onto a trailer and ship them to a relay center in Atlanta.

The church averages about 400 boxes on busy days like Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a little less on other collection days.

"I would say over (Nov. 14-15), we just broke 1,000 … If all goes well, if all of our churches fill this semi up, we should have approximately 12,000…," Watkins said.

He said one of the program's benefits is seeing "the generosity of people. They're so willing to give. How something as simple as a shoebox can make a big impact on a person's life. It's not much, but it means the world to that child on the other end," Watkins said.

Emmanuel's last OCC boxes were delivered Nov. 13 to Joy Fellowship Church, but area residents have until Nov. 21 to turn them in at First Baptist Church of Crestview or Joy Fellowship.

Collections are accepted 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Nov. 21 at First Baptist Church of Crestview, 171 W. Hickory Ave. Randall Jenkins at First Baptist said someone will be in the foyer during church service times Sunday to accept boxes.

Hours are 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 21 at Joy, 5978 Old Bethel Road, Crestview.

See the Samaritan's Purse website, https://www.samaritanspurse.org, for more information about Operation Christmas Child.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'It's just a blessing to us'