By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The torrential downpour of Tuesday night was not enough to dampen the spirits of about 100 St. John Parish children, who were treated to a night of Christmas shopping with family.

For the fifth consecutive year, Destiny Christian Center in LaPlace sponsored a Wal-Mart shopping spree for underprivileged children living in the St. John Parish area.

“These are kids that come from homes where parents are unable to provide adequate presents for Christmas,” said Brittany Allen, event coordinator for Destiny Christian Center. “These are families that have suffered a recent layoff or any similar financial blow dealt by the economy. In the four previous years we have done this event, we have probably helped more than 400 kids have a merrier Christmas.”

Allen said the kids, who range in age from four to 13, were nominated by teachers, counselors, principals and Destiny Church members. Each participant is issued a $100 gift card with the stipulation that they select at least one gift to give to another person.

“We want to use this shopping spree as a moment to teach each kid that whenever you receive a blessing, there is always an opportunity to, in turn, bless someone else,” Allen said.

Allen said her father, Destiny Church Pastor Steve Allen, was inspired to start the shopping spree while at a local drugstore several years ago. She explained her father had seen a young boy playing with a toy his grandparents handed him to keep him occupied. When the family was ready to leave the store, the boy did not want to relinquish the toy.

“His grandparents couldn’t afford the toy, and the kid kept crying,” Steve Allen said. “It touched my heart because I immediately began to remember myself growing up in a single-parent home. I didn’t always get to experience things most kids could because we were so financially challenged.”

Allen said without hesitation he picked up the toy and purchased it for the boy.

“I don’t know who was more excited, the child or me,” Allen said with a laugh.

Brittany Allen said nearly 30 volunteers from the church and Wal-Mart were on hand to help participants while shopping. She said in the past, the church would charter a pair of buses to shuttle kids and family to a Toys R Us store in Metairie. She said the decision to move the event to Wal-Mart was an effort to keep the money within the parish.