Live Stream: City Church, Good Friday Service.

City Church hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at St. Anthony's on Liberty Street in Batavia on Tuesday evening.

The church is planning another hunt for Easter Sunday at 10 a.m. at St. Anthony's.

Photos by Steve Ognibene.

The Christmas Eve Service at City Church starts at 10 a.m.

The City Church Activity Night Annual Toy Giveaway, a night to assist those in need during the holiday season, was a huge success on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at St. Anthony’s on Liberty Street in Batavia.

Every child received a gift or two that attended the event, organizers said.  There were even 30 bicycles that were given away to children that needed or wanted a bike. Pastor Ryan Macdonald, the lead pastor of City Church, said that “there was a time when I was a child that we had nothing.; I remember those days.”

“Now that we have the means to help families, that’s what we want to do,” he said.

City Church’s volunteers all came together for a night of fun, joy and community, organizers said.  Approximately 28 businesses, community members, and church members made a difference by making some sort of donation of toys and/or financial support. 

“Our slogan is, ‘we do life together,’ and we certainly did not do this night alone,” Macdonald said
With a stage full of toys, makeup, sports equipment, and games, children were walking away with smiles on their faces, organizers said. There were carriage rides provided by Cherry Grove: The Yohe Family Farm, and chili was given to all in attendance.

And of course, Santa and some of his elves made an appearance for visits and photo ops with the children. 

Next year, City Church plans to continue this tradition of helping and blessing its community, organizers said, and they encourage you to not spend Christmas alone and welcome you to join them on Christmas Eve at 8:30 or 10 a.m. at 210 E. Main St. and/or at 6 p.m. at 114 Liberty St., Batavia. 

Submitted Photos

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In a brisk sub-30 wind, about 30 volunteers gathered in the St. Anthony’s parking lot Wednesday morning taking care of business as usual for those folks in need lined up ready and waiting along Liberty Street.

Despite the city’s request to find an alternate location for its twice-monthly food distribution, City Church instead cautiously continued on, but with more emphatic reminders for participants to be mindful of where they parked as the line slowly moved its way toward the distribution center in the parking lot. A city vehicle was spotted leaving the scene, and Pastor Ryan Macdonald confirmed that a city official had visited the lot. 

Pastor Ryan Macdonald has been passionate about his work with the City Church food distribution program at St. Anthony’s on Liberty Street as it has grown the last four years. 

He has attended every single bi-monthly event, he says, and can appreciate the importance these distributions have for the 200 to 300 Genesee County senior citizens and families that come for the free food. 

So it is with that same passion that he has responded to a request from city officials to stop the distributions at the southside location.