Church Pledges ‘Living Tree’ Funds to Fight Child Abuse

Every holiday season for the past 16 years, Skyline Wesleyan Church in Lemon Grove has produced a spectacular Living Christmas Tree program for thousands, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote church-connected causes.

But this year, the 3,400-member parish decided to share that wealth with the San Diego community, a move as uncommon as the sum of the gift. Skyline will donate almost $200,000 to the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation.

The donation is an effort by the church to show the community that “there’s a church in San Diego that wants to do something for more than just their own flock,” said Randy Rebold, producer and director of the Living Christmas Tree. He hopes other churches and religious institutions will follow suit.

For the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, which operates on a small budget and a full-time staff of five, the no-strings-attached offer was a godsend.

“This mammoth undertaking has renewed my personal conviction that, if people are made aware of the need of our abused children, they will respond with an outpouring of love and financial support,” said Norma Hirsh, foundation board president.

Most of the donation will be raised Tuesday night during a $150-a-ticket benefit performance in the church’s 1,150-seat sanctuary on Skyline Drive.

The benefit may be the last opportunity to catch the Living Christmas Tree show. Tickets for 27 shows were sold out six weeks before opening day Dec. 3.

The church does no advertising. The $9 tickets are sold through a mailing list of former audience members.

Rebold said the Living Christmas Tree is the largest and most lavish holiday production, secular or sacred, in San Diego County. This year, about 30,000 people will see the performances, which Rebold, a full-time church employee, spends a year producing.

“We’ve all been to church music performances,” he said. “There’s a reason we don’t usually go back--they’re just simple. I’m not knocking other churches because I’ve done shows like that too.”

Rebold’s show could hardly be called simple. More like a cross between Disneyland on Parade and the Andy Williams Christmas show, the production features a computerized light show, an electrical parade, a dozen costume changes, 350 choir members, and, of course, The Tree, with 85 singers from the church choir.

Secular Christmas songs take up the first half of the two-hour show, while religious classics fill the remaining hour. The church also sells audio and videotapes of the show after each performance.

The church has been as enthusiastic about collecting money for its adopted charity as it has about planning the Christmas show.

Besides the benefit proceeds, church member Bill Laugaland has collected $70,000 in corporate donations for the foundation. And during each performance, church fathers pass the plate for the foundation.

Skyline’s donation will be the first deposit toward a $15-million Comprehensive Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Center in San Diego. The foundation is working with the county to find a site and secure additional funds for the center.

When it is completed within the next five years, the center will be the first of its kind in the country, offering children and families a place to receive medical and psychological treatment, said Kyle Ciani, associate director.

The goal during a child’s 30- to 90-day stay will be to reunite him with his family.

Now, abused children are placed in foster homes, often many miles from their real homes. A child may be placed in North County, for example, though the parents live in South Bay.

“So it’s very hard for a mother to have visitation opportunities, especially if she doesn’t have transportation. We want to make that a little easier,” Ciani said.

With the help of the congregation at Skyline Wesleyan Church, that wish may come true.