Brad and Melody Wheeler received a dresser with items for their twins, Colton and Gracie.

Dresser ministry
helps young family

Brad and Melody Wheeler, a young couple from Sioux City, Iowa, wondered how they would make ends meet after their twins were born.

But help came from members of United Methodist Church of Le Mars (Iowa), who donated a dresser filled with clothes, diapers and other baby items. A childcare book and several Bibles were also tucked into the drawers.

“It was sent from God. I think it’s the biggest blessing we’ve had so far,” said Brad Wheeler, who works two jobs so Melody can stay home with their babies, Gracie Ruth and Colton James.

The church wants to fill four dressers per year and donate them to area families, said Cristi Bauerly, leader of the Dresser Ministry. Providing for a new baby “can be very overwhelming for people, if they are just struggling day to day to meet their needs,” she said.

The Wheelers and the church were brought together by the Alpha Center, a pregnancy resource center in Sioux City. Many other churches have similar ministries, patterned after the Dresser Ministry developed by Ann McNitt of DeWitt, Mich. She has sent out 5,200 kits with directions for a ministry titled “What’s That Dresser For, Anyway?” She can be reached at 6330 Herbison Road, DeWitt, MI 48820.

Kirsten Laing of Redeemer United Methodist Church in DeWitt serves with her congregation’s Dresser Ministry, part of its outreach.

“I think it’s a very easy way to reach out to women in need and show the love of Christ,” she said.

—Adapted from a United Methodist News Service story by John Gordon