— Daily Freeman-Journal file photo Desiree Farwell wraps a gift for a Christmas at the Bridge attendee at the 2016 event. Farwell and other volunteers were on hand to wrap the presents individuals picked out, free of charge. This year’s Christmas at the Bridge is set for Saturday.

December is the season of giving. In keeping with the season, Christmas at The Bridge returns Saturday. The event will begin at 9 a.m. and go until noon. Community members are welcome to attend the event and pick out a gift to give someone this Christmas.

Each person that comes receives a ticket for one free gift. Attendees will be able to take their time to choose a gift from over 600 gifts that are arranged throughout the main meeting space at The Bridge. This gift is something that they are choosing to give to someone else.

“Christmas at the Bridge is all about inviting people to the experience the joy of giving. This is what Jesus taught and called people to do with their everyday lives,” said Webster City Church of Christ Pastor Chad Halbach. “Christmas at the Bridge is for everyone in our community. Everyone is invited, no reservations are needed and there is no charge to anyone. It’s a great way to come together to celebrate Christmas.”

Christmas at the Bridge began in 2012 after Halbach and other organizers noticed a need within their church. According to Halbach, several families with small children were struggling with the stress of the holidays. One of the things that they struggled with was being able to give their kids the opportunity to buy presents.

“As we looked around we saw families within our church that had financial issues, people who desired to make Christmas more meaningful, people that struggled with loneliness and isolation, folks that wanted to help others and people that wanted to do more,” Halbach said. “We realized that we could help, not only our church, but our community.”

“After several brainstorming meetings we realized that one of the major things we wanted to do was bring back the joy of giving,” said Halbach. “Kids and adults get very focused on what they are going to get for Christmas and what might be under the tree for them. The biggest goal of Christmas at the Bridge is to focus on the idea that ‘it is better to give than to receive’.”

This is a safe place for families to bring their kids and a place for neighbors to interact with neighbors. While shopping they can enjoy snacks and drinks and Christmas music and maybe even interact with Santa.

Upon picking out their gift they move into the great room where there are folks waiting to help them wrap the gift they have chosen. They are also given the opportunity to pick out a card or make one of their own.

Volunteers are still needed to help wrap presents on the day of the event.

Finally as people head out they are given an invite to Christmas Eve Candle Light service (6 pm December 24th) Along with this invitation is a candy cane and an explanation of how this well-recognized treat is connected to the birth of Jesus.

“There is such excitement as people leave with their gift,” Halbach said. “There is an enthusiasm about having a gift wrapped and ready to go under the tree and a great anticipation of giving that gift.”

“While some families really struggle financially and Christmas at the Bridge can give some relief to those families along with other programs within our county such as Angel Tree, the real mission at Christmas at The Bridge is to remind people what Christmas is about,” said Halbach. “We give gifts to each other on Christmas to acknowledge that first gift of Christmas, Jesus. Our community and society is better for everyone when we nurture this idea of caring for others.”

Halbach noted that this event is made possible by the generosity of people and business in the community. The event has already received donations from over 30 business and is only $500 short of our goal for the fundraising for the event.

The following is a list of business that have already contributed and are sponsoring the 2017 event:

Gold Level: Seneca Foundry, Van Diest Supply, Main Street Kiwanis, Good Life RV, Abens Realty, FM Controls, Webster City Church of Christ, Casey’s General Store, and Foster’s Funeral Home.

Silver Level: Russ’s Barber Shop, HyVee, New Coop, Fareway, Zylstra’s Harley Davidson, Peterson Construction, Good Works Leather, Maharry Dental, Wolf Eye Clinic, Community Christian Schools, Cassidy Brothers Implements, Lampert’s Lumber, and Decker Truck Lines.

Bronze level: Carstens A and T Auto, Boman Funeral Home, Marlie’s Garage, Tolle Automotive, Sports Page, Mineral City, Riley Armstrong, First State Bank, and Webster City Financial.

In addition to these business several individuals have contributed by giving money and gifts to this endeavor.

People can still help by dropping off new, unwrapped $10 gift items to Webster City Church of Christ or making a monetary donation that will enable organizers to purchase gifts for the event.

According to organizers, volunteers are still needed to wrap presents the day of the event. For more information please visit the church website www.webstercitychurch.com.

Along with Chad Halbach, his wife, Marsha, is one of the primary organizers for the event.

Their leadership team this year is a eight-person team of people from the Webster City Church of Christ: Chad and Marsha Halbach,

Erica and Jamie Pride, Shawn and Tanya Morsbach, Matt Dutcher, and Jana Myers.

This is the sixth year of Christmas at the Bridge. The event has served an average of 500 people each year.

There are no administrative costs taken for this event to happen and all donations stay within the community. All overhead expenses are completely covered by WC Church of Christ at no cost.