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East Hills Mall festival a good time for a good cause
| Tuesday, Aug 19 2008 12:58 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Aug 19 2008 1:14 PM
Hope Christian Stores will hold a community Christian concert and charity drive Saturday at the East Hills Mall parking lot to celebrate the opening of its new store in the mall.
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WHAT: Circle of Hope, a community charity event of receiving and giving back, which also marks the opening of Hope Christian Stores’ new store at the East Hills Mall.
WHEN: 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday
• 3 p.m. - Community praise and worship with Pastor Jared Dragoun of RiverLakes Community Church
• 5 p.m. - Local Christian band Boastful Weak and others
• 6 to 9 p.m. - Touring Christian bands A Current Affair, This Great Escape, Fellows, and headliners This Beautiful Republic.
WHERE: At the parking lot of the East Hills Mall, 3000 Mall View Road.
ADMISSION: Free, but consider bringing an in-kind donation of baby formula, diapers, baby wipes, used clothing, especially men’s, canned food, or sponsoring a needy child overseas. Festival food will be available for purchase.
INFORMATION: 827-1727 or hopechristianstores.com.
Photos:
Christian alternative rock band This Beautiful Republic will be one of several bands performing Saturday at "Circle of Hope," a free community concert and charity event at East Hills Mall, to celebrate the opening of the latest store from Hope Christians Stores. (Photo courtesy of This Beautiful Republic)
The name of the celebration is “Circle of Hope,” and its aim is to get the community to have fun while giving to those less fortunate.
“The different charities will be set up with information and collection bins” for donated items, said Linda Mayhew, who owns Hope Christian Stores — the other store is on White Lane — together with husband Warren.
For that reason, those who come to listen to local and out-of-town Christian bands are encouraged to:
• Bring baby formula, diapers and baby wipes to help Love Inc. (the “Inc.” in the charity’s name stands for “in the name of Christ,” Mayhew said), which helps unwed mothers;
• Bring canned meats for distribution to hungry families through Flood Bakersfield Ministries, which works with area churches to help underprivileged families and individuals;
• Donate gently used men’s clothes, especially jeans, to the Bakersfield Rescue Mission, which primarily helps homeless men, or used clothing for other community charitable organizations; or
• Sign up to sponsor a child for about $1 a day through Compassion International, a Christian aid organization that helps 1 million children in 24 countries around the world.
Tim White, a local advocate for the organization, said he and his family sponsor Miriam, a girl from Kenya who just turned 6, and Phatphong, a boy from Thailand who is 7 and is nicknamed “Pound.”
“We actually write to them the first of the month every month,” White said. “We encourage them that God is a good God and he loves them.”
Circle of Hope is a free community event and will also feature children’s music, games, prizes and a bouncehouse courtesy of inner-city ministry Operation Soulwinner.
And there will be festival food for sale, Mayhew said: hamburgers, hot dogs, soft drinks and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Hope Christian Stores sell books, Bibles, music, clothing, art, jewelry and gifts, Mayhew said.