There is a special event that occurs each year, around the holidays, that brings joy, happiness and warmth to people’s hearts: the Christmas Community Care Boxes from Boulevard Presbyterian Church.
“This is, by far, our largest undertaking,” says Eric Engdahl, member of the church. “This mission has continued to grow from its beginning in 1992, when the church supplied 20 boxes to needy families, until now, when we provide food and gifts for close to 400 families and more than 900 children in recent years.”
And while the church has a huge stake in the matter, it is not the only group involved in this project.
“It is not a project that we can accomplish on our own – we are merely the overall organizers,” Engdahl says. “This truly is a community effort, with St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Northwest Christian Church, Tri-Village Sertoma, Tri-Village Lions, Northwest Kiwanis, students from Grandview Heights City schools, Cub and Boy Scout Troops, Members First Credit Union, Boulevard Preschool and members of the Grandview/Upper Arlington/Marble Cliff community, joining together to share the love at Christmas.”
This community effort has grown by leaps and bounds throughout the years and has made substantial progress.
“Families who receive the Christmas packages are referred to Boulevard by several different organizations that we work with throughout the year,” Engdahl says. “The families are contacted to make sure they would like to receive a box, check the number and ages of their children and verify their address for delivery.”
The boxes have a variety of items included, enough to please all of Santa’s kids and families, whether they are naughty or nice.
“Each child, from birth to age 17, receives a wrapped gift,” Engdahl says. “The care boxes consist of non-perishable food items, including peanut butter, cereal, tuna, canned soup, fruit, vegetables, bags of potatoes, pasta, spaghetti sauce, bread, homemade cookies and a gift card to enable the families to purchase perishable items, such as milk, eggs, and meat.”
The path to presents is unique and detailed, as the church prides itself on the its methodical approach towards the gifts.
“During the months of November and Decembe
r, tangible donations of food and presents, as well as monetary contributions, arrive at our church,” Engdahl says. “Food donations go downstairs to Fellowship Hall, where they are arranged by type of item and inventoried as we go along, allowing us to make sure we have enough of everything. Any food items that we are short of are purchased during the final week before delivery. Toys go upstairs to our resource room, where they are sorted into age groups.”
And as Christmas comes upon the children, the church prepares its undertaking.
“Friday night of the delivery weekend, cardboard boxes are assembled, labeled and stacked for filling Saturday morning,” Engdahl says. “Shopping lists indicating quantities of each food item are inserted into the boxes prior to stacking so that the volunteers who fill them on Saturday know how many cans of soup or jars of peanut butter, etc. are to be packed in each. Homemade cookies are plated for inclusion in the boxes this night, too.”
The size of the family dictates how many of each food item will get packed into the box. Family sizes range from two to 17.
Engdahl praises the volunteers for their ability, dedication and organizational skills.
“It is truly amazing to watch as t
his group of people, ranging in age from very young children to those in their 80s, all work together to fill and distribute close to 400 boxes in about two hours,” he says. “It gives us a little glimpse of what God’s kingdom is like, with people working joyously together to help those who are in need of care.”
At the end of the day, after the crew has distributed the boxes and presents, any extra donations will still be used to help someone in need.
“Any leftover food is taken to the food pantries we work with and leftover toys are stored away for next year,” Engdahl says. “And that’s when we are done … until next year.”
David Allen is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at sreed@cityscenemediagroup.com.
