There’s always a line at Associated Ministries Annual Christmas Toy Giveaway.
And there’s always the hope that there will be enough toys, books, toiletries, shoes and school supplies for every child of every person in that line.
This year, the organizers and crews of young volunteers thought they had a chance at that happy ending.
The line started forming in the dark. By 9 a.m., it wound around two sides of Shiloh Baptist Church. The giveaway was supposed to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.
Valorie Crout, director of Associated Ministries’ Project Interdependence, had worried that there would not be enough gifts. Then last-minute donations of cash and goods arrived.
Middle school students from Seabury School and AmeriCorps volunteers from Northwest Leadership Foundation carried them across the street from Associated Ministries to Shiloh’s roomy fellowship hall Thursday. They set them out on tables labeled with kids’ ages. It looked pretty good.
Given the chance to come back and work the giveaway, four Seabury students said they’d rather do that than bake, and eat, cookies at Pajama Day. Jackie Yeh, 12, Sky Sylvanus, 11, Haydn Stewart, 13, and Daniel Davidson, 13, wanted more depth to their holiday.
They minded tables of toys while students from Tacoma Business Academy helped parents choose one gift for each child. A low-key alternative high school, Tacoma Business Academy at Bates Technical College’s Yakima Avenue campus gives students who’ve messed up their education the chance to get back into school.
This was a good way to introduce some of them to volunteering, said Lori Ann Reeder, TBA’s Communities in Schools site coordinator.
“Opportunities like this are so valuable,” Reeder said. “Students learn to give back to the community, feel good about it and build skills and experience that they can put on their résumés.”
The parents in the line filled out forms with their children’s ages. The TBA students helped them manage the lists and balance the presents fairly among their kids, and among other people in line.
“Manage” was the key word in there, Reeder said.
The students took difficult situations and settled them.
Most of parents were just happy for the help, said Steven Galeano, 18, but a few were impatient, or wanted more than was fair.
“It was hard telling people they can only get one toy,” he said.
But he did it, when he had to, well and kindly.
The donations had seemed so massive to the Seabury kids who lugged them across the street. By noon, they realized they would not be enough.
“We all know to donate more,” said Sky. “Today we understood it clearly.”
“Talking about it isn’t the same as acting on it,” said Daniel Davidson. “It’s a real gift to see people so happy.”
It was a gift, too, to feel the volunteer glow for the first time.
“It’s my first time volunteering,” said TBA student Derian Newman, 18. “It feels good.”
It felt good, too, to buy a few toys for the drive, said classmate Linh Tran, 18.
“I’m pretty broke, but it makes me feel better,” she said. “I know where these people are coming from.”
“The economy is so bad, a lot of people can’t pay for presents,” added Destini Trautloff, 16.
Alexandra Aguilera, 19, and Angela Baum, 20, could see that, even from the outside.
“We were driving by and we were curious why there was a long line,” Baum said. “We found out it was a toy giveaway.”
The roommates live pretty much paycheck-to-paycheck, Aguilera said. They know what it means to do without.
Baum used to get her Christmas presents after the holiday. “I had a single mom,” she said. “We were waiting for her paycheck.”
“So we bought some toys,” Aguilera said offering an armful of Target bags. In two minutes, they were on the tables. By 12:30, they were gone. Everything was gone.
“There wasn’t enough for everybody,” said Trautloff. “I thought there would be enough.”
But the need had doubled, said Associated Ministries’ Crout. The size of the line had outpaced the volunteers’ hopes.
“We served 197 families,” she said. “There were 30 or 40 families we weren’t able to help.”
Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677 kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/street
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