Christmas Every Weekend
By: Stephanie Harris
Updated: January 28, 2009
Ask children if they would like Christmas more frequently, and you'll probably find they want it every week, not just once a year.
A group of people show that it's better to give than to receive throughout the year.
They hand out gifts on weekends in what you could call a weekly Christmas.
"I can't sing, and I can't preach, but I can be a good friend and help other people," states volunteer, Gayle Strickland.
She can make dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with church friends.
Joy spread every Saturday for the past three years, much like Christmas every weekend for hungry children.
They make sandwiches by the hundreds to feed those without enough to eat, and the number keeps rising.
In the summer, volunteers made anywhere from 250 to 300 sandwiches, but not today.
Today they made a total of 444 individually made sandwiches.
Making 444 sandwiches takes hours, and they may have to make even more.
A recent USDA report estimates a whopping 700,000 children didn't have enough to eat, a 50 percent increase in 2007 compared to 2006.
A yellow van meanders through Nashville's streets and Stacey worries; hopeing not to miss out on any who are hungry.
Some kids jump for joy in anticipation of something to eat.
They ran out of food at thanksgiving, and the memory of five kids on the porch wanting something to eat haunts Stacy.
No preaching, no judging, nothing that could drive them away.
Anyone who asks gets a bag or two and a holiday wish.
"You get all excited when you give the little kids something."
An excitement like Christmas every weekend.
