December 3, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
Christmas is the season for giving and for more than 125 children who participated in Saturday’s 8th Annual Regifting Event it was their chance to share in the experience of doing something special for others.
This year’s five-hour Regifting event was held at the county complex in the history room.
Regifting, an extension of the Patchwork UC ministry, gives children ages 4 to 12 an opportunity to shop for their parents or caregivers at no cost. The gifts are then wrapped, tagged, and prepared for Christmas giving. Kids also prepare blessing bags to share with others and quilt squares that are later used to make quilts for those in need. Donations are collected throughout the year for this event so that those who can’t afford to buy gifts can still share in the joy of giving by regifting something.
Kim Walker came up with the idea eight years ago.
“It got started by us trying to figure out a way to help people in the community during the holidays and to give others a chance to participate who otherwise could not afford to, so we named it the Regifting Event. We also wanted this to be a way of teaching children about giving”, said Walker
“The idea is to give people a chance to regift something they have but we also get donations from businesses. Kids ages 4-12 shop for their parents or their caregivers. They go around the room and select two gifts, one for a male and another for a female. The gifts are then wrapped. During the day’s event the children also participate in making a blessing bag for someone in the community. This year the blessing bags are for God’s Food Pantry. The kids also decorate quilt squares which are later assembled to make a quilt which is given to someone in the community. This year we will have three quilts for people in DeKalb County and we are taking nominations so if you know of someone who needs a special blessing due to hard times whether it be financial, medical, emotional, or whatever reason we will accept their nomination and pray for God’s guidance in who to give the quilts to. Our mission is to show our love for the people in this community. We get a blessing out of it and we think others do too,” said Walker.