Epiphany is a time when we focus on the risen Christ in our world. Last Friday our friends from Christ Church Cathedral and Emmanuel Episcopal Church-Webster Groves manifested the love of Christ for the children in St. Louis' juvenile detention centers by bringing them gifts, cards, pizza and more for a birthday celebration. We are very grateful for the respite our birthday hosts bring to these troubled children!
"May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth." ~ Psalm 72:6

The Juvenile Detention Centers have confirmed cases of Covid infections and are on quarantine lockdown. This means the kids are in their rooms 23 hours each day and the staff must work extra hard to keep everyone safe. Please keep the children and staff in your prayers.

Our chaplains and staff wrapped gifts and made candy bags for 120 children in the City and County Juvenile Detention Centers and DYS facility! Thanks to everyone who donated to our Holiday Gifts program, every detained child will have gifts to open for Christmas. We were also able to send some love and support to the detention center staff by delivering some holiday cookies and treats. From all of us at ECM, we wish you a very merry Christmas and every blessing in 2022!

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.
❤️ 🎄
~ Christina Rossetti

Thanks to Tammy, Kevin and Aaron from Trinity Episcopal - St. Louis and Beth Goad on behalf of ECM's Board Members for a wonderful December birthday celebration at the juvenile detention centers! The kids with birthdays received a gift and ALL the children were treated to pizza and soda, frozen custard donated by Ted Drewes Inc. (thanks guys!), and birthday cake. Stevie Wonder's version of "Happy Birthday" was sung to the birthday kids at the County detention center. It was an evening of fun to help shine a light of hope and healing on over 50 teens who desperately need our help! Thanks to everyone - including ECM Chaplains Deborah Burris and Kevin Aldridge and detention center staff, who helped make it happen!

Thanks to a generous grant from the Assistance League of St. Louis, we were able to purchase books for the City and County Detention Centers' libraries (29 books for each!) The list of 29 titles include: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens (Sean Covey), Becoming (Michele Obama), Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America (Coe Booth), I'll Fly Away (Wally Lamb), and The Manners Playbook (James Wingo). Special thanks to our friend, Lynn Whittington (a member of St. Timothy's Creve Coeur) for recommending ECM for this grant.

The children at the St. Louis City and County juvenile detention centers were NOT forgotten this month in the "busyness" of the holiday season. Thanks to St. John's, Tower Grove and Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion for supplying pizza, soda, treats and gifts for the November birthday celebration. And it wouldn't be an ECM birthday party without the donation of custard from our friends at Ted Drewes Inc. (It really IS good, guys!)