This year would mark the 20th anniversary of Christian Outreach in Action annual children’s Christmas party, however due to the pandemic, the party had to be cancelled.
The annual event is intended to bring Christmas cheer to families in need throughout Long Beach and Signal Hill.
12 years ago, Lisa Hoffmaster was hired by Christian Outreach in Action to manage their annual children’s Christmas party.
Lisa Hoffmaster is the fund development director for Food Finders.
Food Finders is a non-profit organization originally based in Long Beach, and is also now based in Los Alamitos, that donates perishable foods to hundreds of non-profit pantries and shelters throughout Southern California.
Food Finders have been delivering food to Christian Outreach in Action for 31 years. Several Food Finders employees are now board members for the Christian Outreach in Action Christmas party.
Christian Outreach in Action’s mission statement is “To transform the lives of homeless and impoverished individuals in Long Beach so they may reach and sustain self-sufficiency and independence.”
Last year’s children’s Christmas party had over 2,000 people, 1,500 were children. People began lining up for the festivities the night before.
“It’s normally an all-day event. It starts at 9 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m. For six hours, children get their face painted, watch magicians, get goodie bags from elves and much more, but this year we had to cancel our event. I was not happy. Kids have been cooped up in their houses for nine months, and now they can’t do Christmas either,” said Hoffmaster.
Not only was Hoffmaster not happy about the holiday party being canceled, but she was determined to uncancel it.
“If the kids couldn’t come to Christian Outreach in Action because of COVID restrictions, then I was going to bring Christmas to them,” she said.
Hoffmaster came up with an idea to get volunteers to drive Christmas baskets to 290 families totaling 1,000 kids on December 19.
“On November 1, I reached out to past volunteers to see who wanted to drive and deliver Christmas cheer. By November 19, I had over 86 volunteers,” said Hoffmaster.
Dixie Dohrmann, the executive director of the organization, said, “I knew Lisa was the best person for this job when I hired her.”
“I managed the Children’s Christmas party eight year before Lisa took over. I hired Lisa to take it over because she was perfect. She is our head elf. Full of energy and joy with a lot of holiday spirit. Lisa loves doing this so much that is why she was determined not to cancel Christmas,” said Dohrmann.
Hoffmaster gets a lot of the credit for the amazing annual event, but she has a lot of help. Lisa calls her helpers “the elf committee.”
“I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the elf committee. We are now a well-oiled elf machine. Everyone has a role, and they do it well. Just this year, we had to stuff 1,000 goodie bags and baskets, and because of COVID we also had to get laundry baskets so we can deliver them safely,” said Hoffmaster.
Christian Outreach in Action has been proudly servicing Long Beach residents since 1989.
Anyone who wants to get involved or donate can go to their website at www.COALongBeach.org.