[StBernard] Project Christmas for St. Bernard has joined with Operation Merry Christmas!

[Westley Annis]

Relief Spark has now joined forces with many people in our Parish to make
the Christmas Holidays a little brighter and happier for all.  Operation
Merry Christmas as of tonight has come aboard with Relief Spark to help host
this event.  Right now I have had several volunteer offers and we are just
in the infancy of a wonderful project.  Our meeting with Relief Spark and
everyone involved will be held the Friday after Thanksgiving. We will have
many more exciting things to announce after our meeting.  
 
Personally working on this project has added energy to my step and a smile
on my face as I receive email after email from people either needing
Christmas cheer or wishing to volunteer.  Either way it is nice to know the
citizens of our Parish are pulling together to make a nice Christmas for
everyone.  
 
Sadly as I am contacting families who have contacted me I find people just
not in the Christmas spirit this year and I understand.  However the more I
work on this project the more excited I become about Christmas.  No
Christmas wont be the same.  Yes it will be different.  And most of all I
will miss my neighbors and family but alas this project has restored my
faith as I keep hearing more and more people saying they are moving back to
the Parish or that they would love to help with this project.
 
As I am on the phone or sending out emails I find families getting excited
about having a tree.  Many told me they had not even planned on a tree this
year.  And when I mentioned that Relief Spark is giving a tree with lights
to every family living in the Parish I can hear the person on the other end
of the phone start to get excited about Christmas.  You can hear it in the
voices and in the emails that the Christmas spirit is different this year.
 
All I can say is that I am amazed as people are offering to drive in to the
Parish from wherever they are displaced to volunteer.  To see a friend, to
see a neighbor again to pass out a smile are a few of the reasons someone
told me they were signing up.  We need many many more volunteers to make
this project possible.  
 
And I know if you sign up to help... simply helping will help you to get
back into the spirit of Christmas... as it has helped me and many more
people I have met along this journey.
 
Relief Spark will arrive with Semi Trucks in the Parish on December 16th to
set up.     
        Breaker... Breaker... didn't you know that Santa drives a Semi...
over...  ;-)... 
And will work thru Christmas providing trees, presents and Christmas cheer
to the Parish.
We are also looking for "Santa" to volunteer... ho Ho HO!!!
 
Keep in mind forms will be distributed, they will be available on the web by
Westley (thank you Westley) hopefully right after Thanksgiving, and we will
be passing out forms in groups for the trailers in the Parish for every
family to fill out who is currently or will be living in the Parish for
Christmas.  If your child is enrolled in St. Bernard Unified we are working
on a way for your child to bring home a form.
 
Many thanks to Susie for Operation Merry Christmas joining in with Relief
Spark and many thanks to Craig for helping us also!
 
Please email me if you would like to volunteer or if you are a family in
need. 
 
Amanda Murray Ackermann
Relief Spark Coordinator for St. Bernard Parish
Amanda at ReliefSpark.org