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LAKE WACCAMAW (November 20, 2024) – The Christmas Nativity Journey – a showing of thousands of donated Nativity scenes – is returning to Boys and Girls Homes this Christmas
season with new sites and new nativities for its third year. The Christmas Nativity Journey will be 4-8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.
The journey will begin in the BGHNC Chapel and continue to the Fellowship Hall and Flemington Hall on the BGHNC Campus. Refreshments and a silent auction will be available in the Fellowship Hall each day of the event. Then the journey continues down Lakeshore Drive in Lake Waccamaw to The Anchorage Camp residence at 412 Lakeshore Drive and then to Lake
Waccamaw Methodist Church at 506 Lakeshore Drive. Lake Waccamaw Methodist will also host a silent auction each day of the event. The Christmas Journey ends at Little Wheel of Hope
Missionary Baptist Church at 508 Sam Potts Highway. Donations for admission will be accepted to benefit the programs of care for the youth that BGHNC serves.
In addition to this diverse collection of nativities, the Chapel location will host live Christmas music throughout the day 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 7 from The Ogden Family Band and area musicians.
This event is all about celebrating how the world tells the story of Jesus’ birth and his message of hope through artwork, said Amanda Irwin, Director of Marketing and Communications for Boys
& Girls Homes.
“This Christmas Nativity Journey is an artistic reflection on how Jesus’ story is told throughout the world,” she said. “We added extra sites this year to be able to show even more of the collection than ever before. We have nativities from all different countries and representing different races and ethnicities. But every nativity comes down to this – a small family marveling at the miracle of birth and the wonderful promise of Jesus’ life. That story connects to the value of family at the center of Boys & Girls Homes’ mission for the past 70 years.”
The Lake Waccamaw Methodist Women are excited to welcome the public on the journey. “This is such a wonderful time of the year, and our church already decorates, but we felt by having the nativities, we could share them with more people than just our church,” said Pat Medlin, a member of the group. “It’s just going to be wonderful. Our pastor is so excited to have people visit our church.”
The Christmas Nativity Journey began in 2022 with the donation of more than 2,500 Nativity sets containing about 30,000 pieces to Boys and Girls Homes from Tabor City florist and avid collector Rodney Gore. Mr. Gore said it was important to him to donate his beloved collection he worked to build since 1975 to an agency who would show it to the area.
Cash donations for admission will be accepted at the door.
Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina
Headquartered in Lake Waccamaw, NC since 1954, Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina has served more than 7,500 children as a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 agency. Its mission is to provide a
comprehensive array of services for children and youth who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. BGHNC offers adoption, family and
therapeutic foster care, Success Coach services to prevent children from coming into foster care, and free children’s therapy, as well as residential care on the campus at Lake Waccamaw. The campus features a SACS-accredited charter school with a middle and high school curriculum, vocational education, recreation facilities, farm, equine therapy and a chapel. BGHNC is nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation. To learn more, please visit
https://boysandgirlshomes.org/
Author: staff report
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