Last Updated: Wednesday - 01/05/2011

Cold Lake Carol Fest pays for hampers

COLD LAKE — The churches of Cold Lake united once more to hold their annual Carol Festival and Christmas hamper fundraiser.

The event began 16 years ago spearheaded by the Cold Lake Ministerial, an ecumenical committee consisting of the 14 churches in the Cold Lake area.

Pastor Phil Crump, of the Community Baptist Church, who has organized the carol fest for several years, said the goals of the festival are twofold: first, to invite the community to unite to sing the message of Christmas, and secondly, to raise money to provide Christmas hampers for needy families in the area.

This year, the festival moved to the Agriplex Centre which provided ample room for the 567 people who attended.

The evening begins with singing and then an offering is taken to raise money for the hampers. An average of $3,500 has been raised yearly. Through the donations, 200 Christmas hampers are delivered each year.

Then the evening proceeds with each church singing a selection of songs to glorify Jesus and his coming at Christmas.

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