Choosing toys is gift for parents

by Steve Smith

During the coming Christmas season, needy people walking through the doors of the Cross-lines Cooperative Council in Kansas City, Kan., and 61st Avenue United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn., won’t be handed grocery sacks, boxes or even stockings stuffed with toys, canned goods and other supplies.

Instead, parents will pick items to present to their children at Christmas — and their dignity will remain intact.

“Families actually come in to shop — really shop — for the kids,” said Lou Rose, Cross-lines executive director, “and people come in to shop for other people, so that $5 they pay at the beginning is multiplied 20 times over, depending on how many members in their families.

“If I’m a mother or father who comes in here to shop, when that gift is opened on Christmas day, that person knows that comes from me.”

Such gift shops are an ideal way for churches to help people in need – including those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who face a holiday season that most assuredly will become their toughest ever, experts say.

At Cross-lines family members register with the ministry a few weeks before, pay $5 and make appointments to browse through Cross-line’s Christmas shop filled with free clothing, household goods, toys and food.

At the 61st Avenue Church, low-income parents will pick out toys for their children Dec. 18-21. Last year, volunteers gave away 14,000 toys to 3,000 children, said the Rev. Paul Slentz, pastor.

The toys are collected during campaign drives and through individual donations. Volunteers guide parents through the aisles of the “Last Minute Toy Store.”

“Naturally, parents want to do for themselves if at all possible in a situation like Katrina and Rita,” Slentz said.

Even parents who are unable to provide for their children “can still think about what their children want and need,” he said, “and truly get to shop for them, wrap the presents and say, ‘Here, Merry Christmas.’ They’re not passive recipients.

“It’s important for people, like the Katrina and Rita survivors whose lives are out of control, to find some effort to be in control.”

—Steve Smith, freelance writer, Dallas