HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 12-23 Trinity Baptist Church hosts Toys for Tots distribution MAPLEWOOD REVIEWKWOM1111
Trinity Baptist Church hosts Toys for Tots distribution I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Trinity Baptist Church hosts
Toys for Tots distribution
Submitted by adminl on Wed, 12/23/2015 - 12:00am
Jahlysia, accompanied by her aunt
Annie Her, shows interest in the toys in
the room for youngsters during the Toys
for Tots event at Trinity Baptist Church
in Maplewood Dec. 16. In addition to the
Marine Corps toy drive, the church, with
community partnerships, also provided
hats, gloves, socks, personal care items,
books, and Bibles, as well as an evening
pasta dinner, music and entertainment.
(Linda Baumeister/Review)
Personal shopper Kawar Paw, a
student at Roseville High School, is
one of the many community members
to help out at the Toys for Tots
distribution site at Trinity Baptist
Church Dec. 16. Fabiola Widing was
shopping for her 10 -year-old son and
says she is grateful for the program.
(Linda Baumeister/Review)
Church a welcomed
resource for immigrants
Enjoying a complimentary pasta dinner at Trinity Baptist Church, Fabiola Widing
and her 10 -year-old son, Max, get into the holiday spirit.
"It's pretty cool because there's music and there's food here and you can shop for
toys," Max says, enamored with the Christmas songs filling the dining room.
He says all he wants for Christmas this year is candy. But his mom will be
shopping for something a bit more personalized and long lasting, thanks to the
generosity of those who have filled this Toys for Tots distribution site with gifts.
"It's nice because my husband is working and I work part time, but with me going
to school I can't work enough hours to make ends meet," Widing says, offering
thanks to those who contributed to the event.
Trinity Baptist Church, located near Highway 36 and Edgerton Street,
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served as a Toy for Tots distribution center Dec. 16 and 17. Here, volunteers from the community helped outfit more than 360 parents
and caregivers with toys and basic necessities for roughly 1,015 children. The event serves families from Roseville, St. Paul,
Minneapolis, Maplewood and surrounding cities.
"Our vision statement is to engage with the community," says Cami Vogt, wife of the Rev. Peter Vogt, as she pauses between
directing traffic in the hallway. "There's a huge demand. We could probably do this for another 2,000 people."
Third year hosting
Trinity Baptist Church serves a predominately white congregation. The building, however, is also home to the Minnesota Thai Church
and Trinity KaRen Baptist Church, which boasts the largest such congregations in the metro area.
The Karen Organization of Minnesota estimates more than 9,000 Karen people live in the St. Paul area, making it the largest Karen
community in the nation. Many are newly resettled refugees from Burma (renamed Myanmar in 1989), where they were persecuted
for their Christian faith.
Joanna Peters, a missionary who splits her time between the Maplewood -based church and Karen refugee camps, says Trinity
Baptist was a natural hub for these refugees.
Today, Trinity KaRen Baptist Church has roughly 750 adult members. And according to a recent survey commissioned by the Trinity
Baptist Church, about 25 percent of those living within a three-mile radius of the church building are Karen.
While many Karen celebrated Christmas before coming to Minnesota, Peters explains, the tradition of exchanging gifts is foreign to
them at first. Having come with little to no money and personal possessions, though, the year-round support the church provides helps
ensure they have access to winter gear and basic toiletries.
Looking to meet these community members where they're at, the city of Maplewood partnered with Trinity Baptist to help serve those
in need on Dec. 16, along with area schools and donors.
This is the third year the church has served as a Toys for Tots distribution site. Rolling out its new community youth outreach initiative,
Kid City, the city invited its partners from Z Puppets to host a Laughter Lab workshop at the event as well.
"It's about outreach to the families, through the kids," Mayor Nora Slawik says.
Newly elected council member Tou Xiong attended the event as well.
"I was happy to see that the Toys -For -Tots distribution site was able to serve and bring together many different communities, both
geographically and culturally," he said.
More than presents
In accordance with Toys for Tots protocol, all beneficiaries pre -registered to ensure everyone who came would receive a meal and
one toy per child. The program is run through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
Upon signing in at the front door, families were assigned to a personal shopper who guided them through the various rooms filled with
age-appropriate toys to select from. Adults also stopped by tables filled with stocking stuffers and winter gear, and a room filled with
more than 1,600 books, to round out their gift collection.
Downstairs, everyone was invited to a pasta dinner with live music, an information table with Bibles and a bike raffle.
Shopping with her 3 -year-old niece, Jahlysia, Annie Her, 19, found gifts for her nieces and nephews before heading to the dining hall.
Asked what this event means to her, she says, "it will help out all the kids."
Pastor Peter Vogt agrees.
"Most of the people here tonight are not from our congregation," he says.
"We care not just about their physical needs, but their spiritual needs as well."
Erin Hinrichs can be reached at 651-748-7814 and ehinrichs@lillienews.com. Follow her at twitter.com/EHinrichsNews.
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