On Tues., Sept. 27, the cheer and dance teams spent CONCORDIAserves out in the community at Project Giving Light in Newport Beach.

Project Giving Light’s mission is “to bring joy and light through birthday celebrations.” Britton Cheney, a freshman on the dance team, said they act on their mission “by having birthday parties at homeless shelters, providing school supplies and giving birthday boxes so every kid can feel celebrated on their birthday.” 

The cheer and dance teams had the opportunity to help out with organizing shipments and items for birthday boxes for Project Giving Light. Laura Gibson, a freshman on the dance team, said she helped by “unpacking their shipment of their boxes and stacked them on their organizer shelves in the facility.” 

Cheney said she also got to help with “writing cards for the kids who will receive them.” Each birthday box is personalized with gender and age-specific items for the recipient, and comes with a birthday card made by a volunteer like Cheney. 

The members of the spirit teams had a fun time decorating the birthday cards and writing sweet messages to the foster children who would receive them. Cheney enjoyed making cards because she “could make it really fun and colorful and think about the kid that would receive it.” 

Senior on the cheer team, Emma Lee, enjoyed serving the community and “giving back to those who are less fortunate.” She said, “I like that it brings us closer together, and it feels good knowing how much it meant to Project Giving Light.” 

The spirit teams got to work together and spent time together reflecting on how their service impacts their community. Cheney said, “It was so fun to volunteer with other Concordia students, especially as a team. It made me feel so humbled to be able to help these kids, even if it just brings a little bit of happiness to them.”

Cheney recommends participating in CONCORDIAserves next year because “it’s a great way to spread the love of Jesus to our community, and you get to do it with all of your friends.” 

Gibson agreed, “Helping our community helps everyone. Jesus’ second greatest commandment was to love others as yourself and one of the ways we can show this is by doing exactly what CU Serves through the opportunities students can sign up for.” Lee also recommends participating in future service days because “it only takes a couple of hours to make an impact.”

Project Giving Light is a nonprofit organization based in Orange County, but serves places across the nation. They want “every child to know that they were made for a purpose, to speak hope, joy and blessings over them, and to infuse whatever space they call ‘home’ with light and joy so that they begin to dream about more than just surviving. Most importantly, [they] want every child to know that God loves them, He sees them, they matter to Him, and they are not alone.” 

According to Project Giving Light, “There are more than 3,000 children in foster care in Orange County right now,” and “more than 260,000 students in California’s public schools experience homelessness every year.” Project Giving Light strives to be part of the solution and said, “We interrupt the haze of overwhelm with an infusion of joy and light with our birthday celebrations and birthday boxes.” 

To learn more about Project Giving Light and how to serve with this organization, visit their website at https://www.projectgivinglight.com. 

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