Cheney Church Shares Christmas Cheer With Local Families

Contributed article

Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Wisdom from the book of Acts that the Cheney Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cheney, Washington, experienced first-hand at their Christmas party in December 2025.

“It started with a conversation,” said Janice Atkins, Cheney church social committee chair. “The social committee wanted to do something different — something more meaningful than our usual Christmas celebrations. It was suggested that the church could host a party for needy families in the Cheney area, complete with Christmas gifts for the whole family.” 

The church board and members heartily agreed, excited by the prospect of serving others.

With an average attendance of 22 people each week, and many of those retired or on limited incomes, the church was unsure of how much they would be able to help their community. One committee member knew a man named Dave, who serves as the head of the Cheney Outreach Center and Food Bank. Dave was able to reach out to find families with needs in the community. 

Dave said there were various entities in the area hosting charities during the holidays, but appreciated that the Cheney church wanted to help as well. He said that anything the church did would be appreciated, even if it couldn’t be much. Dave knew of two very needy families and would see if they could commit to the date and time suggested. Once that was confirmed, the church group went into action.

“With limited knowledge of the gift recipients, it was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit prompted members to purchase or make all the different gifts for the families,” said Atkins. “Both families only wanted to make sure their children had a nice Christmas, but the church group made sure to include something for the parents as well.”

Having never seen any of those who would be coming, the church prayed the families would have a good time and that the Christmas party would be a blessing. The event began in the sanctuary singing Christmas hymns and sharing Bible prophecies of Jesus’ birth and their fulfillments before moving into the fellowship hall for a light supper and opening of gifts.

Along with more typical gifts like toys, the church made sure to address more pressing needs with gifts of daily necessities, such as clothes, rolls of quarters for laundry, gift cards for food and gas, diapers, and toiletries.

As the gifts were opened, more than once it was heard, “This is just what I needed!” or “How did you know this was on my wish list?”

The Cheney church also included more personal items. Each family member received hand-made plush pillows and blankets in their favorite colors, and each family received a large, hard-bound copy of Desire of Ages, along with other Christian books. 

Both families expressed their deep appreciation for each of the gifts. The parents had special appreciation for some of the more practical items. 

“We had just put our last roll of toilet paper on the dispenser just this morning,” said one of the parents, “and here’s a whole new package!”

When all the gifts had been opened, and the clean-up began, both mothers said this was the most gifts they had personally received since they were children, with one mom exclaiming, “This little church did all this?” She was overwhelmed with amazement and felt so loved. “Being newly divorced,” she said, “I had thought this would be one of the worst Christmases of my life, but it turned out to be the best one!”

When the families left, there were more gifts than they could haul on their own, so church members loaded up what couldn’t fit into their own vehicles and delivered the gifts to the families’ doorstep. Meanwhile church members who stayed behind talked of how much fun it was to help people truly in need. One member shared, “This was the most fun I ever had at a church Christmas party in my life!” 

The Cheney Church looks forward to hosting another Christmas party for the community again next year.

Photos Provided by the Cheney Seventh-day Adventist Church