Art Department at Mississippi College Hosts Wingard Home Christmas Dinner

Wingard Home children receive a warm welcome during the annual Christmas dinner hosted by the Mississippi College Art Department.

Santa will arrive bearing gifts, a delicious Christmas dinner will be served and the sounds of holiday season music will fill the air.

Those are some of the main ingredients as Mississippi College’s Art Department once again hosts families from the Wingard Home in downtown Jackson.

The event on the Clinton campus December 3 is designed to bring joy to residents of the Christian ministry.

Campus Dining, MC’s food service provider will offer meals to children and other family members. Students from Kappa Pi, the art honorary society at Mississippi College, will be the servers. The Thursday evening program at Anderson Hall begins at 6 p.m.

“I love the Christian atmosphere,” said Wingard Home resident Christopher Merritt when enjoying a meal here with his young daughter in December 2013. “It is a blessing.”

Randy Jolly, the event organizer, says visitors will receive stuffed animals, clothing, canned foods and a warm welcome at the Christian university. “We want to kick off the Christmas season in the right spirit.”

For Mississippi College students, faculty and staff serving as volunteers year after year, it makes their Christmas.

The Wingard Home has helped homeless families in Jackson for more than two decades. Typically, the non-profit facility at 1279 North West Street can house as many as 45 people.

Rev. Roy Wingard and his wife, Charlotte, founded the ministry in Mississippi’s capital city after they were once homeless in Atlanta.

During the special holiday affair, Mississippi College art professor Ray Gregory will conduct a pottery demonstration. Another talented educator will perform holiday season tunes on the piano.

In recent years, Jolly, director of the Gore Galleries, was featured as the night’s jovial Santa. This year, Wayne VanHorn, dean of MC’s School of Christian Studies and the Arts, is expected to pinch hit as the bearded Mr. Claus and gladly hand out wrapped gifts.

People seeking to volunteer, can contact Randy Jolly at 601-925-3880 or rjolly@mc.edu