Christmas is a Time of Celebration
By Liz Curfman, Program Officer
Christmas is a time of celebration, and anticipation. With the end of the year close at hand, it’s a wonderful season to be in community with those that know, and love us best. Christmas is a community- driven season, and there is no better way to look ahead, than to spend time with those that have invested in the days behind us.
For The Rees-Jones Foundation grantee Wesley-Rankin Community Center (WRCC), celebrating isn’t just a fun fest, it’s also meaningful, and purposeful. As the agency prioritizes community, and doing all things together with the residents of their neighborhood at the center, these Christmas celebrations provide the opportunity for the entire community, young and young at heart, to gather together to look behind at all the work that has been accomplished in that year.
WRCC was founded in 1902, and serves the Los Altos neighborhood in West Dallas, which is located less than a mile from Trinity Groves. This tenured organization serves a low-income Latino community with programming for a wide range of ages from senior citizens, down to the neighborhood’s smallest school aged residents.
When asked about Christmas with the Los Altos community, CEO Shellie Ross shared that “Wesley-Rankin is multi-generational, so ensuring we take time to celebrate all we’ve accomplished together, it’s an important part of our rhythm.” Additionally she shared that “Serving a primarily Latino neighborhood, culturally, celebrations are a large part of life together. . . Co-creating programs and classes with the community requires us to celebrate well, too, and on some level, we all have a level of achievement to be celebrated!”
Two of the ways the agency celebrates is through the Afterschool Showcase and Christmas Party, and Project Care. The Afterschool Showcase and Christmas Party provides students the chance to share a final project they have been working on in their chosen club. The photography and art clubs usually have exhibits, and in the past the piano and guitar clubs have performed alongside yoga and basketball demonstrations and robotics and coding displays. Shellie said “This is a great time to share with other participants and families what has been learned through the time at WRCC.” For Christmas, Santa Claus, portrayed by a board member, makes an appearance, and family photos are taken in a volunteer-run photo booth. In an effort to continue to support the community, a local West Dallas restaurant supplies the food.
Project Care incentivizes parents’ learning to center them as head of household through education. When parents take courses in the Adult Academy and meet specified requirements, they qualify for Project Care. Over 15 years ago, Project Care looked like a large toy store in the gymnasium. In 2020, due to the pandemic, needs greatly shifted, and parents were asking for gasoline cards, food support and clothing, WRCC moved to a gift card model. Parents were able to customize the support needed for their families, with the Project Care celebration folded into the Afterschool Showcase. It makes sense that Project Care centers on parents’ achievement!
When WRCC parents were asked about what Project Care meant to them, here’s what they had to say:
“Personally, this support takes away the uncertainty of being able to provide Christmas presents for my little ones. Work tends to slow down during this time of year, and it can be difficult to meet our family’s needs. Knowing that I’ll be able to get something special for my kids brings such peace of mind.”
“This program is so accessible and welcoming for all families. We truly appreciate the classes, and having the incentive of gift cards helps relieve the stress of worrying about gifts for the kids.”
Christmas time at Wesley-Rankin is a hopeful time of joy to celebrate completing a year, and looking ahead together. As Shellie put it: “And it doesn’t matter what language you speak or how old you are, joy and hope are languages that are universal.”
As we enjoy this time of year, may we hold close the celebration of Christ’s birth. One of my favorite things about Jesus is He came for everyone. That the good news of His birth is for all, not just a select few. That no matter where you come from, as WRCC put it “Joy and hope are languages that are universal.”
It reminds me of one of my favorite sermons by Charles Spurgeon, as he shares that good news is for all people in the coming of our Savior:
“By being in a manger he was declared to be the king of the poor. . . It is not a Caesar that is born today; he will never trample down our fields with his armies, or slaughter our flocks for his courtiers, he will be the poor man’s friend, the people’s monarch. . . In thus being laid in a manger, he did, as it were, give an invitation to the most humble to come to him. We might tremble to approach a throne, but we cannot fear to approach a manger.
Never could there be a being more approachable than Christ. No rough guards pushed poor petitioners away; no array of officious friends were allowed to keep off the importunate widow or the man who clamored that his son might be made whole. The hem of his garment was always trailing where sick folk could reach it, and he himself had a hand always ready to touch the disease, an ear to catch the faintest accents of misery, a soul going forth everywhere in rays of mercy.” – Christmas sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon in 1862.
Like our friends at Wesley-Rankin Community Center, we pray you too experience the joy and celebration that Christ’s birth brings as we remember—He came for each of us.