Mark Meredith (left) and Jeff Bubna work on an indoor mailbox they made as part of Operation Christmas Blessing. PHOTO COURTESY KEITH KELLER

One stitch at a time, members of Community Covenant Church in Eagle River worked long hours to spread holiday cheer, constructing 32 quilts for the women at Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility.

The colorful quilts, made out of flannel and denim from recycled jeans, are a small part of the church's third annual Operation Christmas Blessing project, an outreach that exchanged the traditional church Christmas celebration with a day of service to the community and outreach to those outside of the church.

Members of the church spread holiday joy and cheer through 18 service projects, including the quilt distribution to the women at the prison.

Operation Christmas Blessing took place at three locations Dec. 12, including Eagle River Elementary, Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility and the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center.

"More than 100 people from the church volunteered to help spread some good will throughout the community during the Christmas season," said Stacey Pratt, director of local missions for the church. "We decided to bless the people of the community no matter if they were a part of the church or not in hopes for a greater impact and to encourage relationships that can grow deeper in years to come."

The quilts for Hiland stem from a partnership the church has with the prison and Alaska Christian Ministries.

"Chaplain Brenda Ngunst hoped to be able to provide quilts as a gift to women at the facility who graduate from the TLC (Transformational Living Community), a faith-based program for inmates," Pratt said.

"Jeanne South spearheaded the project, which involved more than 770 hours of volunteer time to complete." Each quilt is reversible and features a large cross on the center of both sides.

"It's one way we can show the women in this program that Jesus loves them, and the church is there for them" South said. "The quilts represent His love for them as they begin the next chapter of their lives."

The group also did some remodeling work at Hope House, a transition facility for inmates recently released from Hiland Mountain. Several volunteers also made handmade Christmas cards for the inmates.

At Eagle River Elementary School, members of the church converted the gymnasium into a woodshop and built nine shelving units for teachers to use for storage in their classrooms.

"When we were looking for groups to help we saw that Eagle River was a Title 1 school," Pratt said. "We knew then, that as a part of the community we needed to do something to reach out and help the school."

Volunteers also worked with teachers preparing flashcards, lesson projects and provided an evening of activities for the students allowing parents to have a night out. Twelve families at the school also were assisted with providing a memorable Christmas, in the form of a Christmas tree, a Christmas dinner and gifts for elementary-aged children.

Carolers from the church visited the senior center with gifts for each of the seniors.

"We had nice pictures frames for each senior at the center," Pratt said. "We also had a photographer there with a printer who was taking pictures of the seniors and then printing them to put in the frame."

The church volunteers also worked with Congregation Beth Shalom to distribute food and gifts to needy families as part of the neighborhood gift program.

"The bottom line is we decided that instead of looking inward during Christmas, we'd reach out and help the community," Pratt said. "It is clear that showing love to others is exactly what Operation Christmas Blessing is all about. Everyone was blessed because of the program."

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, December 24, 2009.