The largest portion of volunteer hours in Florida (37%) goes to religious causes--more than education and social service combined. The value of general donated time averages around $20/hour. And to make our Nativity happen, we have had everyone from electricians to musicians to theater professionals, to painters, experienced stage assemblers, decorators, landscapers, and seamstresses, and best of all: regular citizens, donate their time to create a holiday celebration that brings people together to honor the Savior of mankind.
There is no better way to learn about and love people than to serve with them. Jessica Robertson helps her dad Dave set up lights at dusk for a play rehearsal. The beauty of Christmas in Florida is the weather; the downside is that you have to haul all your equipment (and in some cases, your children) in and out several times before the event. That takes dozens of volunteer hours.
Alan Laabs has helped with the lighting for 2 years now. Joe Burtoft (not pictured) has helped us every year give us the "power" to pull off a big outdoor event!
The Hendry family spent a few days reassembling our Hebrew home replica, which tends to lose it's bricks when it's disassembled. The Hebrew home will act as Joseph's house in the Nativity play.
Bob Chilson is one of our volunteer carpenters, and responsible for several pieces, including our beautiful star. This year one he offered to make some animal cut-outs for the play. Not ba-a-a-a-a-ad Bob!
Here's Tim Nielsen rigging up our stage lighting. Two missionaries and Mark Balls spent their time setting up the stage platforms, and properly, too. (Last year we just guessed.)
Mark and Alan also installed our signs in the cold and the dark after working their regular jobs during the day.
And of course, we can't forget the guys who not only put up our structures in November, but also will be doing a LOT of stuff the day of the event.
Marcia Cereza, our Cuban grandmother, and Susanna Mardonnes (not pictured) decorated our church. If you think dressed up your house for the holidays is time-consuming, try doing it twice! The church will be open for tours during the Nativity (just please forgive the mess in the gym...)
Below, Sheyla Norton paints our camels. The work spent on these Nativity props is for a good cause that will never die: we can use them year after year. And if we ever stop hosting our Nativity night, we can donate our supplies to several other area churches, who also put on free Nativity nights for the public. And we can never do enough to celebrate the birth or Jesus or help those around us remember Him during the Christmas season.
Here's my (Liz Robertson) painting project this year: Mary's house will take about 12 hrs by the time it's done. (Fabric scenery is so much easier to store than foam, and less expensive to make and maintain!)
Thanks to Keri Balls for painting another background wall.., which we got done in less than 90 minutes.
Lottie Whitehead, I believe, is our most distinguished helper, and spent 2 hours recycling coffee bean bags as play props by stuffing them with old construction drawings. Thanks a bundle Lottie!
Here the Shurtz family works on assembling some props for the Christmas pageant. They are part of the cast, who spend several nights rehearsing for double performances on Dec 11 (6:30 & 8:30pm).
And Gilbert and Leslie Jaimes, who are expecting their first child, and playing Mary and Joseph, help our special effects department with some blue lighting screens.
And then there's the countless hours of practice by the performers. Julie Montgomery below directs the outdoor rehearsal for the Angel Alert! children's choir as the weather gets rather chilly for south Florida.
Some of the 7:30pm concert numbers include Mt. Carmel Baptist church sent a praise dance team over to perform,
and we have a volunteer youth quartet from our community,
and a violin sextet that sounded very good already. Meghan Shurtz (not pictured) is organizing our music concert, which will be fun to hear as we walk around our "city of Bethlehem".
I haven't documented everyone who is helping, but I wanted you to appreciate all the behind-the-scenes efforts that goes into an event to keep it free and under budget. These are truly the sweetest unpaid laborers a person could work with! The Nativity Experience is going to a wonderful night, thanks to all those good people!
