The anticipation has been building for weeks for Brandon and Jamie Grant who started Rise City Church in Lakeside five years ago.
This week they get to perform the favorite part of their jobs by delivering donations from the church's Christmas Offering.
On Wednesday, a surprise gift was delivered to Sam Bodger, a former Granite Hills High School student and a first-year student at UCLA.
Bodger was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma several years ago.
A sprained ankle never healed and turned out to be bone cancer. She underwent nine months of chemotherapy and the amputation of part of her left leg.
While insurance covered a basic prosthetic, it was just enough to get around and ended up breaking.
The church received a nomination from Bodger’s mother and decided the church could cover a new prosthetic foot.
Local
NBC 7 tagged along as they met Bodger and her mom for the first time in Alpine on Wednesday.
“As we celebrate Christmas, just want you to know this is God saying ‘I love you, I got your back,’” they told Bodger.
“The newer foot I'll be getting, it'll allow me to do so many other things," Bodger said.
The Grants say more than 250 people contributed to this year's offering. The collection of strangers believe giving really is the best part of Christmas.
This year the congregation set out to raise $175,000 and brought in $260,000.
The Grants told NBC 7 all of the money will go towards helping people outside the church walls.
Some of the larger gifts from the church this year include funding 270,000 meals for kids in third world countries and a $55,000 check to Lindo Park Elementary School in Lakeside.
