Christmas in July fundraiser held at Cafe Rhema

FLINT (WJRT) – (07/25/14) – Flurries on July 25 in downtown Flint – it was enough to confuse a customer or two at Cafe Rhema.

“It was like, are you kidding me, especially the snow, but Santa was kind of nice,” said customer Bart Crawford.

The coffee shop kicked off its Christmas in July event early Friday morning.

“I think this is the perfect Christmas. The perfect Christmas with 70 degrees outside and sunny, and snow coming down,” said Josh Spencer, owner of Cafe Rhema.

It’s actually Hollywood movie set snow on the ground, along with a snow machine pumping out some white fluff from above – and it doesn’t end there.

“We have our pumpkin spice latte and our gingerbread latte and our eggnog latte are all back, and we’ll have all our Christmas decorations up until the end of the month, so this weekend will be a fun time to stop by,” Spencer said.

Christmas in July at Cafe Rhema is about much more than snow, Santa and coffee. It’s actually designed to help out a little girl and her family who are going through some tough times.

“Her name is Gabriella Tidsley. She’s one year old and from Davison. She has Neuroblastoma cancer. She’s been going through chemotherapy and she also has a bone marrow transfer coming in August,” said Nicole Guiles, family friend.

Guiles says despite the chemo, Gabby hasn’t lost her spirit one bit.

“She just always has a smile on her face and at a benefit we had last night, she was dancing around, and she’s just

the sweetest little girl,” she said.

The hope is to use those Christmas in July contributions to make Gabby’s recovery as comfortable as possible.

“And just give them a place to recuperate at home and just fix up their house for them, and then anything extra, we want to help them out with their mortgage payment and medical bills. You know, the spirit of giving, that’s what Christmas is all about,” Guiles said.

Even in July.

Original Article by Marc Jacobson for ABC12
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