As Janet and I have organized “Distribution” at Second Baptist Church’s Angels of Light event at Woodway for the last ten years, I wanted to write down our “process” to assist anyone who takes over.
Overview of Angels of Light
Angels of Light is a ministry that gives a Christmas experience to disadvantaged families in Houston. They work with partner ministries throughout the city to bring families to each of the campuses for a special Christmas experience, including food, entertainment, and an opportunity to learn what Christmas is about. Armies of volunteers from each church campus ensure the visiting “Angels” have a memorable evening. Each Angel gets to leave with age-appropriate items including toys, food, clothing certificates, and Bibles, which is where Distribution comes in!
The Angels are brought to each campus by bus, accompanied by volunteer “Bus Captains.” On the bus ride to campus, they fill out a form with information that allows volunteers to ensure that their “going home gifts” are on their bus, ready for their return home. There is a lot to coordinate in the 2-3 hours that they are at church. Distribution liaises with other larger volunteer teams such as Bus Captains, Toys, Grocery, and Clothing Certificates. While Distribution has less preparation work than the other teams, it remains essential that the paperwork is ready to ensure a smooth operation, as there is little spare time when everything gets going, and mistakes are challenging to rectify. Each night, about twenty buses come to the campus, with ~800-1000 Angels. In 2022, Woodway did this for three nights, usually the Monday through Wednesday after Thanksgiving.
In the same way as the other teams, Distribution has a committee of volunteers that start planning in September. Distribution’s committee is usually about 8 people. That committee oversees and coordinates the volunteers on the nights of Angels. Other than the chairperson preparing the paperwork for each night, the other committee members don’t have any preparation to do. On each night of Angels, the committee members will oversee Bus Form reception and initial counting, Teen Gift Distribution, Grocery needs counting, Bible Distribution, work with Toys for toy running, and with the Clothing Certificates team. Distribution operates out of Parlor B. The Distribution chairperson stays in touch with the other teams that Distribution works with, to identify issues early. As needed, issues get escalated to the overall Angels coordinators to seek assistance. In addition, there is a Distribution committee member whose primary role is volunteer coordination, to ensure each volunteer has an enjoyable and productive evening. To enable Distribution to operate on the night, a couple of Bible Study classes are assigned, and we get 30-40 volunteers. Tasks vary from counting sheets of paper to running wheeled trashcans of toys to the buses, so there are activities for all ages.
Detailed Overview
The following information is overwhelming unless one is familiar with the activities. It is most useful when needing to remind oneself of how things work on each night, as it is usually 11.5 months since they last did it!
Firstly, the “Order Form.” The form is a triplicate, with a yellow and a pink “carbon copy” behind the white front page. A stack of these is received from each bus captain, and it drives ALL activities, so is extremely important.
The top white sheet, as labeled, is used for the Clothing Certificates and is returned with them to the Bus Captain.
The second yellow sheet is labeled “Toy Order” and “Grocery Order.” At Woodway, yellow sheets just drive the Toy/Teen Gifts orders, though it might be different at other campuses.
The third pink sheet is labeled “Distribution” and is used to get a grocery tally allocate Bibles.
The diagrams may or may not be helpful. If confused, just keep scrolling down!
First, this is the flowchart of the journey of the “Order Forms.” Follow the numbers, 1 through 6, in sequence. Yes, they split!
The table below shows what each Angel should leave with.
| Infant Food | Bible Story Book (English) | Youth Bible (English) | Adult Bible (English or Spanish) | Toy | Teen Gift | Clothing Certificate | Bag of Groceries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Needs Infant food” | x | |||||||
| Child 0-9 | x | x | x | |||||
| Child 10-12 | x | x | x | |||||
| Teen 13-18 | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Adult | x | x | x |
Overall Preparation
As described above, the main preparation is paperwork. Pieces of paper are essential for summarizing the needs from the bus forms, communicating those needs to other groups, and keeping track of each evening. For convenience, the papers also include the instructions that volunteers should follow.
The table below shows which papers are used up each night. It assumes a maximum of 21 buses a night, for 3 nights.
| Category | Description | How Many Needed | Total for 3 nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Volunteers Sign-in Sheet | One per night | 3 |
| Distribution Summary Sheet | One per night plus one | 4 | |
| Counting / Toys | Daily Distribution Totals | One per night | 3 |
| Toy Bus Sheet | One per bus per night | 63 | |
| Toy Runner Priority List | One per night | 3 | |
| Teen Gifts | Teen Gift Totals | One per night | 3 |
| Teen Gift Bus Sheet | One per bus per night | 63 | |
| Grocery | Grocery Totals | One per night | 3 |
| Grocery Bus Sheet | One per bus per night | 63 | |
| Bibles | Bible Totals | One per night | 3 |
| Bible Bus Sheet | One per bus per night | 63 |
The table below shows additional supplies that are required but can be reused from year-to-year.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| 24 large envelopes | For keeping together the paperwork from a particular bus |
| 24 Red/Green/Blue Toy Runner Sheets | With bus identifier. Each runner leaves with one but must return it to distribution. This “closes the loop” and allows us to know the task was completed. |
| 24 Red/Green/Blue Teen Gift Runner Sheets | As Toys |
| 24 Red/Green/Blue Grocery Runner Sheets | As Toys |
| 24 Red/Green/Blue Bible Runner Sheets | As Toys |
| Spare Red/Green/Blue card | To replace lost Runner Sheets above |
| 6 Clipboards | One for each station. |
In addition to the items above, that the Distribution Chairperson provides, the Angels coordinators provide stationery such as paper clips, binder clips, pens, rubber bands. They deliver the Bibles to Parlor B. The Distribution committee person that is looking after Teen Gifts will need to liaise with Toys to get the gifts, and ensure they have any bags they will be packed in and tape.
Preparation for Each Evening
For the first evening, I suggest checking Parlor B at about 5pm. This gives you time to arrange the room, if it hasn’t been done so, and make any other adjustments.
There should be enough tables to set up ~2 at each work area below. You want enough chairs, but not too many. One of the greatest challenges of the night is managing the volunteers, especially at the beginning when there is little to do.
This is what it looks like.
Once the room layout is confirmed, distribute the paperwork, clipboards, and pens to each table. You can start prepping Bibles, but that is a good job for volunteers.
The committee members are asked to arrive at 6pm. Jane’s Grill is open to grab dinner. You are supposed to grab a radio. Volunteers are supposed to arrive at 7pm, but some arrive early. Prayer is supposed to be at 7:15, but that can also be early. Most likely, the first stack of Order Forms won’t arrive until 7:30pm. The first forms have been known to arrive before 7pm, but there is no rush, and an early bus helps get everyone busy.
The Fun Begins
The first 2-3 buses are the ones to pay close attention to. The forms should have gone through “audit” where they are checked for completeness. The most important thing is that the Bus# is Red, Green, or Blue; #1-#7. It is assigned when the bus arrives at Woodway. They have a different number for the way out, which must not be used.
For the first stack of bus forms that moves through Parlor B, it’s good to check each step of the process. There are new volunteers who have not done it before. Even those who have done it before will have forgotten!
It’s also a good idea to check each “downstream” group, to ensure they are getting what they need, i.e., Toys, Clothing Certificates, and Groceries. The evening is as much about us having fun working together as it is loading the buses with goodies. Periodically checking the buses, and that they are being loaded correctly, is also good.
As bus captains return to their buses, they will always find some discrepancies. Be ready to give them extra Bibles and Teen gifts. Also, grab a few spare Clothing Certificates, in case they are missing one or two.
The end of the night for Distribution is normally when all of the buses have left the Ripple Creek parking lot. Hand a summary sheet to the overall organizers, and hand back the radio. Normally, Parlor B is not being used during the day, but you might get specific instructions if it is.
Total numbers-per-night ranges from 2022 are as follows:
– Angels = 771-897
– Toys = 347-470
– Teen Gifts = 92-127
– Child Bibles = 245-342
– Youth Bibles = 189-215
– Adult Spanish Bibles = 140-181
– Adult English Bibles = 141-213
– Groceries = 401-429
– Infant = 18-39
– Buses = 19-21
– Volunteers = 33-37
The Adventures of the Cajunlimeys 
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