Society of St. Vincent de Paul
St. Austin's Conference
2011 Christmas Basket Project
We are gearing up once
again for our annual Christmas Basket Project! Last year 180 families received Christmas
Baskets from St. Austin Parish. Families
are contacted to get gift ideas and the information is placed on a card/label,
and mounted on the Giving Tree, which makes its debut at the Parish Holiday
Fair. As many of you who
have been through this grand event already know, there is a huge amount of
work involved with this project. Following is a list of the many tasks it
takes to put together this Project. Think
how you want to be involved, and let us know!
Phone Bank: Call the adopted families
to check names, ages and genders of family members. Ask for special gift requests or ideas.
We provide a script and form to write down the information.
This is done the week prior to the Holiday Fair, usually at the "Work
Meeting" Tuesday, November 29th.
Gift wrapping: Gift wrap volunteers, please join us on Assembly Night, Thursday,
December 15th. We
will also be wrapping during the day on Friday, December 16th. We welcome any donations of wrapping paper,
gift bags, yarn/ribbon, tape and scissors. We are also in need of stocking stuffers--such as books, coloring
books, colors, markers, small toys and cars, socks, gloves and underwear.
Assembly Night: Thursday, December 15th beginning
at 5:00 PM in Hecker Hall.
We will assemble the large
boxes that will hold the food and gifts for each family, attach the Christmas
Bureau family information sheets, and distribute the canned goods and fresh
fruit. Next, the gifts are distributed
as they are wrapped. Inventory
is then taken and last minute shopping is done for those gifts not yet purchased.
Friday, December 16th – Help needed anytime during the day, all day!
This is last minute/catch
up time. We finish purchasing,
wrapping, and distributing gifts, checking and double-checking every box,
attaching maps to each box, distributing stocking stuffers and adding that
special St. Austin’s touch! There
are countless details that need attention on this day---and these are best
handled by SVDP members rather than "general" volunteers.
Delivery Day:
Saturday, December 17th.
7:30-8:00 A.M. We begin lining up the
boxes for delivery.
8:00-10:30 A.M. Parishioners start driving
north through the alley from Martin Luther King to load up boxes, grab a map,
and deliver to as many families as they can. All the boxes are usually gone by 10:30
A.M.! It really is quite awesome
to watch. Year after year, we
stand by amazed as Hecker Hall totally empties itself
in a period of 2 hours!
* * * * *
*
We need YOU to make this
all happen. Please read through these descriptions and let us know how you
would like to help.
GIFT WRAPPER – we can accommodate as many as 10-12 at each wrapping session.
GIFT WRAP COORDINATOR – one person each session to make sure the
right labels get attached to the right gifts. This needs to be a detail person who doesn't
fluster easily.
MAP MAKERS
– photocopy the Mapsco page or print a map from
the internet for each delivery and highlight the street. We usually have 4-5 people making 20-30
maps each.
FRIDAY GIFT BUYERS – need 3-4 people to buy last-minute gifts
for those that are not returned on time.
This is usually fun, but must be done quickly, late Friday afternoon and
sometimes late Friday evening!
STOCKING STUFFER COORDINATORS – this is a great job for teens or older kids.
A group of 3 or 4 would be perfect.
This just entails figuring out which stocking stuffers, socks and underwear
are best suited to which families (age-wise) and maybe tying some ribbons
or bows around them before dropping them in the family "box".
LATE FRIDAY DOUBLE-CHECKER – need at least 2 people to go through each
box and be sure there is a gift for each person. Another good detail job! Patience helps, too.
DELIVERY DAY CREW – we generally have 12-15 people working on delivery day; 4 or
so in the alley loading up cars, 8 or so inside arranging the boxes by zip code
and passing them from Hecker Hall, through the kitchen
and out the door. This is very
fun! We always have coffee, hot
chocolate, baked goodies and Christmas music.
The jobs of Fruit Purchaser
and Ham Purchaser are usually handled by Mary Lou and the Nelsons.
If they ever retire from this, we are in BIG trouble.
We are happy to have you
involved in whatever capacity you are able. Please contact Huddie
or Jennifer to volunteer for any position or ask any questions. Thank you for your interest and we look
forward to hearing from you soon.
Jennifer Korba
Huddie Murray
784-7343
835-1636