Secondary school students at the King’s Academy understand that for many families, Christmas may not be the most wonderful time of the year. For this reason, TKA partners with Urban Youth Impact’s Christmas Store each year to give students in grades 7 through 12 an opportunity to serve and make a difference.
Urban Youth Impact has hosted a Christmas Store for the Tamarind Avenue community since 1997. The goal is to empower needy parents by providing free gifts and toys that they can choose for their children to open on Christmas morning.
This year, more than 100 TKA students served alongside Urban Youth Impact workers to help provide 8,500 Christmas gifts for approximately 600 families, along with bags of groceries and clothing. Prior to the event, the TKA family collected and donated 1,075 toys and five bikes.
Before Christmas, students met Urban Youth Impact workers at their center and assisted with sorting toys and loading them onto buses to be taken to the Roosevelt Full Service Center, where another assembly line was created to deliver the toys into the gymnasium.
Students enjoyed creatively displaying the toys for the Christmas shoppers and bagging non-perishable items for distribution.
Students returned early the next morning to assist Urban Youth Impact workers in whatever capacity was needed during the event. Many “adopted” children while their parents shopped and worked in various tents in the Christmas village, where kids could get their faces painted, make Christmas cards, get pictures taken in a photo booth, decorate Christmas cookies and more.
Each year, TKA chooses a theme for serving and provides shirts for students to wear while volunteering in the community.
This year’s theme, “Strength & Courage; Fearless with God,” is based on Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
The King’s Academy is a nationally recognized private Christian school serving approximately 1,200 students from preschool through 12th grade. More information is available online at www.tka.net.
ABOVE: TKA students who took part in the Urban Youth Impact event.
