Christmas in RVA 2024
‘Tis the season of joy, generosity, and hope!
Each year, Youth Life enjoys celebrating the Christmas story and sharing in the Christmas spirit with our students! We’ve done this in many different ways throughout the years, but have recently returned to a much-loved “family dinner” together, where our students, their families, and our volunteers can share a meal and some holiday cheer! We also coordinate gifts for our students from anonymous sponsors, games for parents and kids to play together on stage, a Christmas “store” where children can pick and wrap a gift for a loved one, and much more!
It’s a magical night, and we can’t make it happen without a LOT of help from our community! Find out how you can join us below:
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Sponsoring a child means anonymously purchasing and wrapping three gifts (1 brand name or high quality outfit, 1 pair of brand name shoes, and 1 toy or item from their wishlist— with a price limit of $200 for all three combined) for a child to receive on the evening of the event.
Learn more and sign up below!
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Christmas in RVA’s finances are organized/provided by Dunn Deal Charities, a 501c3 owned by the Founder of Christmas in RVA and an avid supporter of Youth Life, Joe Dunn! If you are interested in making a donation towards this or future Christmas in RVA events, you can write a check (preferred) to "Dunn Deal Charities" and give it to Joe Dunn or mail it to Youth Life at P. O. Box 15202 Richmond, VA 23227.
If you prefer to give online, you can donate via Youth Life's website and we will use your contribution for this or future Youth Life Christmas events. To give via Youth Life, visit our online donation portal here and put "Youth Life Christmas" in the comments when checking out.
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This event would NOT happen without an incredible base of volunteers! Interested in pitching in? View the different roles and sign up below.
Learn More about Christmas in RVA
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Youth Life has always had a community Christmas Party, but for many years our students were also invited to attend an event in Washington, DC called “Christmas with the Greens” (formerly “Christmas with the Redskins”). At this event, students received gifts from sponsors who spent the evening hanging out with them and playing games with Washington Commander football players!
While we were super grateful to be included in this event each year, it was quite the task to drive the kids all the way into DC on a school night. Then, when the pandemic prevented us from doing either the community Christmas party or the DC trip in 2020, Youth Life friends and supporters Joe Dunn and Daniel Johnson (along with a few others) decided to step up in 2021! They helped put together a Richmond-centered event very similar to “Christmas with the Greens,” where Youth Life (along with other RVA nonprofits’) students were invited to UTurn, Inc, a faith-based sports complex for an epic evening of gifts and games. Christmas in RVA was hosted here in 2021 and 2022!
In 2023, the Christmas in RVA Committee partnered even more directly with Youth Life to make a few big changes to the event. Together, we combined elements of our original community Christmas party with parts of the Christmas with the Greens/Christmas in RVA event. What resulted was a “family dinner” style evening, where parents and siblings were invited to join in the fun, and kids still had the opportunity to give and receive gifts from sponsors, play games, and enjoy a kid-friendly feast as a big Youth Life Family!
We are so thankful to everyone who helped us get to this point. We love this event and are so excited for it every year!
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In 2023, we were so excited to be able to expand the invitation to students’ families and give the event a more community and family focus!
However, this did encourage us to reconsider the emphasis on sponsors attending and watching students open their gifts at the end of the evening. While we still wanted our students to receive sponsored gifts, we also wanted to be very careful that parents did not feel any shame or embarrassment at a stranger providing these gifts for their children, especially if they themselves are not in a financial place to provide gifts for their child.
Therefore, starting in 2023, we decided to keep all sponsors anonymous. If a sponsor still wanted to attend the event as a volunteer, they were welcome to! However we did not want the evening to be too overly focused on the sponsors giving the gifts, especially if it might be at the expense of the dignity of a parent.
We are so incredibly grateful for these “Secret Santa” anonymous sponsors, and for their willingness to help us serve the parents by making this change!
