This fall Bryn and I participated in a Bible study called “40 Days of Love.” Our participation was in one small group, out of many, at our church, Ascension Lutheran, in Waukesha. The program encourages a small group project and we decided to help out with Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County.
The Christmas Clearing Council is an organization that promotes and coordinates giving to families in need during the Christmas season.
Tonight most of our small group, along with our kids, headed over to St. William Catholic Church, also in Waukesha, where the giving will take place. Tonight the primary activity was the delivery and sorting of toys.
As trucks and vans would arrive at the church there were long lines of eager volunteers helping to unload. Boxes and bags of goodies, for children of all ages, were carried into building and dumped out on a long row of tables. Meanwhile other volunteers picked the toys from the tables and distributed to other tables labeled by type of toy.
For example, board games were all placed along one wall. Alexander counted 170 boxes of Candy Land. There were 6 boxes of Scrabble! Come on, the latter is much more fun. I’ve never heard of the National Candy Land Association or seen any Candy Land tournaments. If Candy Land is not your style how about Chutes and Ladders. I bet there were almost as many of those.
There were tables with stuffed animals, tables for boys, tables for girls, tables for toddlers. There were tables with action figures and tables with balls. Tables with arts and crafts and tables with books. All of the donated toys are new and collected throughout the city by stores and other volunteer groups.
It was amazing to see how quickly a trailer could be emptied. While I spent most of my time sorting toys, delivering to appropriate tables, I joined the line, the “bucket brigade,” for one trailer emptying. A line of people stretched outside to the trailer, in through the lobby, and into the big sorting room.
Box and bag, one after another, just kept coming. While it seemed like the trailer carried nearly an infinite amount of gifts, we probably emptied it within 10 to 15 minutes. As each pack made it to the tables it was dumped and the goods were sorted. When the toys stopped coming, I went to join the sorters and found that almost everything was already sorted.
There were enough people working that the toys were sorted as quickly as they entered the building.
As tables filled up toys were grouped and stored underneath. Sometimes others would come by, fill large boxes with toys from a single table and move them to a storage area making room for more toys.
All of these gifts will be given out this coming Saturday to families in need in Waukesha County. We will work one shift Saturday morning. I’ll have to report back here how that goes.
Tonight was a good experience though. There were so many people helping out. There was a lot of energy in the room. This really captures the spirit of giving for Christmas. Now I look forward to being a part of the giving that happens in a couple days.