 |
| Wendy Harn (left) and Betty Quinn (right) at the Utah Valley Christmas Box Club donation center. |
As shoppers scan fliers for Black
Friday sales, local humanitarians hope they will consider picking up
a few extra items for Utah's neediest children. Charitable programs
are bracing for an unusually high number of people needing help this
season, notes one such humanitarian, Betty Quinn.
Quinn should know. As president of the
Utah Valley Christmas Box Club, she comes face-to-face with the
growing need in Utah Valley year round. It is the added stress that
is typical of the holiday season, she said, and deep economic strife
that comes with the times that are lead causes of the increasing
crises among Utah families.
The Christmas Box
“The Utah Valley #ChristmasBox Club
was founded by #RichardPaulEvans,” Quinn said regarding her
involvement in assuaging pain during troubled times. “They support
abused, abandoned, and neglected children o f Utah Valley.” The
club is a function of the Christmas Box International organization in
Salt Lake City, according to Quinn, established also by Evans.
The programs were modeled after the
message conveyed in Mr. Evans' popular novel,
The Christmas Box.
Christmas Box International contacted Quinn four years ago, she
said, and asked if she would oversee a Utah Valley club. Her
agreement was met with her signing on other civic-minded friends to
join her in the cause. Today, twelve volunteers make up the Utah
Valley Christmas Box Club (UVCBC). With Quinn as its president, she
is joined in leadership by fellow Paysonites, Lois Knuteson as
Vice-President and Wendy Harn as UVCBC Secretary.
The Club, which meets
monthly throughout the year, operates out of a 2,000-square-foot
office space, located at 426 South Main Street, in Spanish Fork.
Each year a business donates an office space for the donation center.
Items were beginning to flow into the building last week, as Quinn
and Harn began setting up tables and boxes before the assembling
begins. They expect to have things labeled and ready to go by
December 10.
The Utah Valley Christmas Box Club has
received an astounding response from the community, Quinn added.
Clubs and organizations have signed on, businesses have responded by
collecting or contributing from their own stock, and local citizens
have stepped up to give. UVCBC members expect their entire donation
center to become filled--wall-to-wall--with donations in the weeks to
come.
Needed items include clothing, baby
care items, hygiene products, blankets, school supplies, and toys to
cheer sad faces. The items are sorted by size and packed in
convenient, labeled baggies by Christmas Club volunteers, then turned
transported to the Christmas Box Room, located at the Provo
Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The work is
ceaseless for local volunteers, as they aim to help keep the Room
well stocked with necessities for the neglected and abused youngsters
who arrive with very little.
“They are so traumatized when they
first come in,” Quinn said. What awaits them inside the Christmas
Box room provides comfort as much as fulfills a basic need.
Aside from the Christmas Box Room
donations, Quinn and associates engage in similar projects in the
local community. The Grand Families Program provides gifts to
children who are being raised by their grandparents. “We are
reaching out to the grand-families, grandparents raising their grown
children's [kids],” she said. In Utah, “83,000 grandparents are
raising their grandchildren.” Substance abuse is high among
reasons, according to Quinn.
“Three items are provided to the
family's children,” Quinn explained, noting that the local club has
found thirty-three sponsors to provide for families residing in Utah
Valley.
Through the Giving Tree
project, organizations and groups receive twenty-five card stock
ornaments, all hand-decorated and marked with an item needed, the
handiwork of local school children and LDS Young Womanhood groups,
for which they set out to fulfill.
Giving trees are located at
businesses all throughout the Valley. Though the gift requests vary,
from toys to clothes, Quinn notes that gift cards are especially
helpful, as they enable the organizations to buy the right size of
clothing, especially for the older recipients whose requirements are
more varied.
The Santa Helper is a program that
provides an entire Christmas for children. Donors receive an
ornament with the needs of child in the amount of between $70-$75.
Quinn notes that this program has received substantial support from
families, civic groups, and individuals.
“At any given time 22,000 children at
risk in state of Utah,” said Quinn. “Sad to say, abuse is
all-year-round.
Quinn adds that, “At the present
time, the Utah Valley Christmas Club is looking for a permanent
donated office space for their operational needs throughout the
year.” For more information about the Utah Valley Christmas Box
Club or to find out how you can help, contact Betty Quinn at
801-465-3645 or
bettyquinn15@yahoo.com,
Lois Knuteson at 801-465-3703, or Wendy Harn at 801-465-7728 or
wharn@q.com.
