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The snow fell as Judge Memorial Catholic High School students (from left) Erin Dugan, Sarah Villareal and Anthony Oyler, senior class president, retrieved donated Christmas gifts for the Catholic Community Services Gift of the Drummer program. The gifts were distributed at Saint Vincent de Paul Center offices. IC photo/Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — Catholic Community Services’ holiday Gift of the Drummer will serve about 1,250 children this year. The Christmas giving tree was divided into two programs, one for those children whose families are registered with the CCS Saint Vincent de Paul Basic Needs Services and the other for children whose families are refugees from other countries.

"One of the ways we reach out to people is through parishes," said Lauren McCarty, CCS public relations and marketing representative. "Several parishes sponsor the clients who are registered with CCS Saint Vincent de Paul Basic Needs programs. These families with children are not able to buy Christmas gifts."

Basic Needs Services includes Saint Vincent de Paul Emergency Assistance, the Food Pantry, the Weigand Day Center, and the St. Vincent dining hall, which serves a daily hot lunch and a soup and sandwich dinner to about 1,800 people.

"The refugee children also are in need, but these populations don’t speak English well and it’s hard to determine their needs," said McCarty. "For the past five years CCS has separated the two groups of children and asked the general public, donors, board members, or others who aren’t part of a Catholic parish to sponsor the refugee children.

"We want the refugee children to also have what they need going into winter as well as celebrating the Christmas traditions now that they are living in Utah," McCarty said. "We ensure that the needy children in all of our programs receive coats, hats, gloves, clothes and shoes."

Usually, Gift of the Drummer provides children from newborn to age 17 with three items of new clothing, said Dennis Kelsch, director of Basic Needs Services. "If people want to donate more or add a toy, they can," he said. "We start registering clients in September through October, and these clients are all at 150 percent or lower of the federal poverty guideline level."

After the children are registered, parishes, schools, private individuals and companies buy gifts for them. The gifts must be delivered to CCS by the first week of December.

"We ask people not to wrap the gifts because we want the parents to be a part of their children’s Christmas by wrapping the gifts," Kelsch said, adding that wrapping paper and supplies are available at CCS.

Some of those who bring in the gifts also bring in additional new clothing, extra coats and toys they purchased, Kelsch said. On Dec. 19, these items will be given away to those families who were not registered in the Gift of the Drummer program.

"We usually help another 20 to 30 families this way," said Kelsch.

Monica Rich, CCS intake coordinator, helped secure donors for the Gift of the Drummer program and said CCS was able to help 18 percent more children this year. The participating parishes were Saint Thomas More, Saint John the Baptist, Our Lady of Lourdes in Salt Lake City, Saint Andrew, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Ambrose, Saint Ann, Saint Joseph the Worker, Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center, Saint Patrick and Saint Olaf. Other donors were from the Pastoral Center, Judge Memorial and Juan Diego Catholic high schools, individuals and corporations.

"New parishes came into the program and are still giving us donations to help clothe those children in need," said Rich. "I also had volunteers come forward to help distribute the gifts."

"The number of children CCS serves points to the need in our community," said McCarty. "We really appreciate everyone who buys gifts or donates money. It really is a great time of year to give back and help insure every child in Utah experiences the magic of Christmas and is prepared for winter in Utah."