Thank you to many for giving this season

To the Editor:

During this season of the year, we often hear the expression, “The spirit of Christmas is giving.” If that sentiment is true, our community is overflowing with the Christmas spirit. Recently, many of our friends and neighbors gave their time and support to attend the first “Quiet Christmas” and gave generously to the Theil and Andrea Kauffman Memorial Bible Fund. Through your generous donations, we were able to raise $1,721 for the Fund – an excellent start to our fundraising efforts to put Bibles in the hands of children and adults here and abroad. On behalf of the Fund’s Board of Directors, I thank you for your kind support of this important initiative.

Quiet Christmas would not have been possible without the extraordinary musical gifts of the talented musicians: Rich Burns, Rex Goss, Josh Hill, Jeff Kauffman, Ethan McMonigal, Patty Loudenslager, Jane Piper, and Chris Prough. Thanks to all of them for bringing Quiet Christmas to life. We are enormously grateful, as well, to the First United Methodist Church for hosting the event and providing a beautiful setting for the meditative atmosphere we attempted to create. We greatly appreciate all the cheerful assistance provided by Katie Becker and the church staff.

Many people already have been asking if Quiet Christmas will become an annual event. Given the success of the first Quiet Christmas – even despite rescheduling due to snow – and our community’s enthusiastic support, the answer is quite clear: absolutely! So if you weren’t able to make it to this year’s Quiet Christmas, we look forward to seeing you next year. In the meantime, we wish you God’s richest blessings in the coming new year and a very merry – and quiet – Christmas.

Kevin Zook

Lewistown