Tualatin Church members spent about 14 hours on several evenings wrapping Christmas presents at the local Fred Meyer store—for free. They wrapped more than 300 presents. Each wrapped gift was accompanied by a card saying, "With love from the Tualatin Seventh-day Adventist Church." The gift cards also gave the church's Web address for those seeking more information.
Customers were surprised a church would wrap presents for free and not accept donations. Often this curiosity opened the door to talk more about the church and faith.
By the end of the last night, the gift wrapping had created such a positive buzz the store director asked if the church could come several more nights. While this was not possible this year, the Tualatin Church definitely plans to make this outreach an annual event.
From left: Aida Stathem, Mary Starrett, Valerie Smith and other Tualatin Church members wrapped more than 300 presents for free during the holidays.
