‘Christmas matters even for babies’
By Judy Masterson jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com December 9, 2011 8:12PM
Waukegan 12/8/11 Michele Medzigian of Lake Forest and Troy Hartz from Great Lakes Naval Training Center get a family's present together at the Catholic Charities of Lake County during its massive annual Christmas gift distribution in Waukegan on Thursday morning. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 8, 2012 1:15AM
WAUKEGAN — Ten-month-old Isabella wouldn’t be the wiser if she were to wake up Christmas morning to find nothing Mickey Mouse — no books or toys or tot-sized new shoes — under the tree. But her mom would mourn the lack.
Mother, holding wide-eyed daughter, waited in a long line Thursday, the first day of the annual Adopt-A-Family gift distribution sponsored by Catholic Charities Lake County. Christmas matters, even for babies, said Nancy, 23, of Waukegan, who asked that her last name be withheld.
“It’s memory building,” she said. “There will be pictures she can look back on — family memories of the holiday season.”
Fourteen thousand children in Lake County will open holiday presents provided through the generosity of donors, the diligence of volunteers and the masterful organization of Catholic Charities, a recipient agency of Help Them to Hope, the Lake County News-Sun’s annual holiday campaign.
The social services provided by Catholic Charities are legend — food assistance, counseling, case management — but the Christmas toy ministry cuts to the heart of what it means to give and how it feels to receive.
“If you grow up poor, you always want to give your kids better,” said Navy Petty Officer Joseph Everett, 20, of Conover, Ohio.
Everett and Petty Officer Darris Taliaferro (pronounced Tolifer), 24, of Severy, Kan., were discovered in Adopt-A-Family’s makeshift warehouse amidst a sea of black bags and boxes, all numbered and stuffed with new toys — remote-control trucks, board games, baby dolls, tea sets. The men and a stream of other sailors from Naval Station Great Lakes are volunteering to help muscle the Christmas booty into and out of trucks and car trunks.
“I think it’s amazing that this goes on, that people still give with the economy what it is,” Everett said.
Taliaferro, whose wife is eight months pregnant, reported feeling a little envious over the new safety seats he had hauled-in. He motioned to rows of bicycles resting on kickstands — 450 will be gifted this year — and said, “There’s more bikes in this building than people in my town.”
Big givers this year include St. Paul Parish in Gurnee, Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and Holy Cross Church in Deerfield. Thirty churches, about 15 groups, corporate employees, individuals and families have reached out to make sure kids in need can look back — and forward — with happiness.
“It’s all about seeing the joy in their faces,” Taliaferro said.
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