Lake Region—Once again, the Detroit Better Living Center (BLC) engaged area churches in activities to provide a special Christmas experience for Detroit's less fortunate.

A Christmas party for kids took place on Christmas Eve at the BLC. Nearly 100 children and parents from the community received a free gift, pizza, snacks and lots of love from church member volunteers. This Christmas event gives us a chance to show God's love in action, and the community really appreciates it. The church volunteers and the Salvation Army in Wyandotte, Mich., donated hundreds of toys to make a difference this year.

On Christmas day, the homeless who were camped at a docking area at Hart Plaza (Detroit's world-class meeting and convention facility) received lots of love in a practical way from Burns Church members and BLC volunteers. Each homeless person the volunteers met received a warm blanket and selected from other items such as food, hats, gloves and personal items donated by area churches. Prior to the event, the BLC served as a staging area to coordinate distribution of the donated items. The event was planned and led by Yvonne Burns, Burns Church community services leader.

The BLC and the area Adventist churches want to help these homeless individuals all year long, and this Christmas outreach spearheaded by the Burns Church gave us a great start. We're hoping to get a vehicle to transport the homeless to the BLC for other social services and programs.

Ray Young, Better Living Center director