Bethlehem of the Santa Clarita Valley held a Christmas charity event Saturday called Car Cruise on the church’s site to collect food items and toiletries for two nonprofit organizations.
With their parking lot adorned in Christmas lights and decorations, members of the community were invited to cruise through, with the entry fee being at least one can of food to be donated.
The event aimed to collect non-perishable food items that would be donated to the local food bank Santa Clarita Grocery, and toiletry items that would be donated to the nonprofit Prayer Angels for the Military.
“We try to do what we can for people during this time, and especially now since this year has been so rough,” said church member Patty McKee. “We usually hold a fundraiser each year and since most of our events have been drive-thru ones this year, it was easy to plan.”
Prayer Angels for the Military is a nonprofit organization that collects water, snacks and toiletries to send military members across seas. The church looked to collect single-serving snacks, water bottles, batteries, Chapstick and cards with personalized notes to send soldiers.
Attendees were also welcomed to decorate their cars as they rolled through the parking lot to enter in a contest for a chance to win prizes.
“There’s three winners, and each will receive a trophy along with gift cards,” said McKee. She added this was a fun way for people to engage with their families and get into the Christmas spirit.
The church also has a no-contact collection box outside of the preschool building for people to make donations at any time without coming into contact with anyone else.
Bethlehem SCV is located at 27265 Luther Drive, Canyon Country.
Nonperishable food items can be donated to SCV Grocery, located at 21176 Centre Pointe Parkway, Suite 300, in Santa Clarita.
