Over 40 SDA youth from area churches helped out at the Christmas Wonderland drive thru in Bethany Oklahoma.  The Children's Center is a hospital that provides care to children with special health care needs. They raise donations each year by having a Christmas Winter Wonderland where guests and their children (and pets!) can drive thru winter scenes, decorated houses and see real live characters dressed as Raggedy Ann & Andy, M&Ms, Gingerbread people, bears, reindeer, wise men and toy soldiers.   SDA youth have been helping out for the past several years.  On Dec 11, we braved the cold to dress up as delightful characters and to wave and perform for several hundred cars that came thru that evening.   Over 40 SDA youth and two pathfinder clubs from 6 of the Oklahoma City area churches helped raise over $2,980 for the Children’s Center.  We also set the record for this year of having over 550 cars coming thru the Wonderland in just four hours!  It’s a great feeling to see the children’s eyes light up when they see a character waving, dancing and giving them a holiday greeting.

 The Children’s Center expressed their appreciation for the unselfish and generous spirit of our SDA youth.  These young people could have been spending their Saturday night doing their own thing, but instead they stepped up and helped by raising money for the children in the Children’s center as well as making hundreds of children happy as they drove thru the display.