Christmas bells ring in Corvallis as churches aim to comfort to the community with food, gifts and compassion. 

However, for Grace City Church, King’s Circle Church, and St. Mary’s Catholic church, the act of giving to the community is aimed to last beyond the holiday season for most churches in the area.

Grace City Church is giving back to the community through an event called December to Remember.

“This year we are supporting and celebrating 25 local teenagers who have been through a lot. Their situations vary but each is working hard to get through high school with little to no support outside of the Corvallis School District,” said Ashley Alexander, campus missionary for Grace City Church.

According to Alexander, December to Remember will provide each of the students with personally tailored gifts from the members and support of Grace City Church.

“It is our chance as a church to love our neighbors and celebrate Christmas by being generous,” Alexander said.  

Another church in Corvallis, King’s Circle Church, is lending a helping hand to multiple organizations and has supported many of these organizations for years now.

According to Bill Lagerquist, Associate Pastor at King’s Circle Church, this includes providing financial help to the local Adult and Teen Challenge organization. This program is a non-profit addiction recovery program through long-term residential discipleship in which the church supports regularly. 

During the Christmas season, however, the organization requested help with specific needs King’s Circle Church will provide throughout the holiday season. 

King’s Circle Church will continue to support Chi Alpha, an on-campus ministry at OSU in which they are regularly involved with. This season, additional funding through special offerings will be given by the church. 

Recently, they sponsored and organized a holiday meal for houseless individuals at a local Corvallis park.

“We will support other local community services this month as we do every month, including Love INC (works with local churches to help people with specific material needs) and Friends of the Family Counseling (provide lower cost counseling services to the community),” Lagerquist said.

According to Deacon Chris Anderson, an OSU professor emeritus of English, St. Mary’s Catholic Church frequently gives back to the community, partnering with organizations and building their own ways to support others. 

“We have what we call The Giving Tree, where there’s a Christmas tree in the church, and there are little tags on it, and people take the tags and bring presents. And those presents are distributed,” Anderson said.

According to Anderson, St. Mary’s Church hosts Stone Soup Corvallis, a local non profit organization that provides free, hot meals 365 days a year with no questions asked.

St. Mary’s Church has been a partner in hosting Stone Soup since 1982. Since then, they have offered free facilities and support each week along with other churches in Corvallis such as First Christian Church and First Congregational United Church of Church. 

“When it’s so dark and you’re going through the darkness, the light is there. And it doesn’t seem like it with all that’s going on in the world. Right? It seems like the darkness is winning. But what we believe is that it’s not,” Anderson said.