Donations light Saint Benedict's Nativity scene

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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The lights of the Christmas Grove on the grounds of the Mount Benedict Monastery were lit for the first time this year on Dec. 7.

OGDEN - For 25 years, lights from the Christmas Grove have brightened the lives of women and children through the work of Saint Benedict's Foundation.

The foundation supports 14 northern Utah programs on a regular basis and sets aside discretionary funds to support projects such as the United Way of Northern Utah Winter Emergency Safety Net Fund.

"It actually has become the corporate ministry for the Sisters," said Holy Cross Sister Danile Knight, prioress of Mount Benedict Monastery. "We are now six sisters and there is no way that we can get out into the community and do one one-hundredth of a percent of what our foundation does."

Among the programs the foundation supports are Family Counseling Services, which helps uninsured individuals and families where physical, sexual and emotional trauma has occurred; the Bright Beginnings Program at the Family Support Center, which teaches parenting skills for new parents; and the Best Friends Mentoring Program at the Boys & Girls Club, an after-school peer mentoring program. Through all 14 programs, the foundation helps more than 7,000 women and children.

Until 2005, the Christmas Grove was the only fundraiser the foundation had, said Yvonne Ulloa Coiner, the organization's executive director, and "it's probably our favorite one."

In the past two years, the Nativity scene in the Christmas Grove underwent some repairs. Local artist Karen Thurber repainted all the figures. In addition, Michael and Denny Joseph and Bill Sullivan, the monastery's groundskeeper, rebuilt the stable. "Every year we put it together, it started to get a little more rickety and a little more rickety, and it'd lean a little further and a little further, and they'd say, ‘Oh, it's going to fall down; no, it's just got character.' And last year I said, ‘I don't think it's got that much character left,'" Sullivan said.

For the fundraiser, community members can purchase a light on the tree for someone they want to honor. The person for whom the light is purchased is then sent a Christmas card letting them know about the dedication. The front of the Christmas card is a photo of the Christmas Grove with the Nativity scene.

There is no set amount for the purchase of a light. "We'll get a donation for $1,000, and we ring a little bell, we're so excited," Coiner said. "But then, the other day, I got a dedication and it was for $7.96. It was from a widower; it was for his wife. That just touched me. I was just so glad that he was able to do it and we were able to help."

The first night that the Christmas Grove is lit, a ceremony is conducted in which the names of those being remembered are read, then participants go out to the grove and sing "Silent Night" as the lights come on..

Sherm and Chris Losee, who attended the event for the first time this year, found it moving. "We got to hear my mother's name and her mother's name memorialized tonight, so it was great," Sherm said. We think they were out there with us. We were trying to pick out the little lights that were there."

Although the foundation has exceeded its goal in each of its other fundraising efforts this year, donations to the Christmas Grove are down; they hope to raise $20,000 before the event ends on Dec. 31.

The Christmas Grove remains lit until the Solemnity of the Epiphany on Jan. 3.

The Christmas Grove lights can be seen at 6000 South 1075 East in South Ogden on the grounds of the Sisters of St. Benedict monastery.