Youths use raffle proceeds for Easter baskets for CAPA
When the junior high youth group at St. Thomas More Catholic Church set out to raise funds for a service project, it hoped to collect $200. Turns out the group set its sights too low. Its recent raffle netted $900.
The group, led by college students Kayley Randall and Dacia Contabile, put together a Gonzaga University-themed gift basket. The basket was filled with Zags memorabilia, water bottles and tickets to the Gonzaga-St. Mary’s basketball game.
The youth group sold raffle tickets for $5 each, and the money quickly added up. “We were shocked,” said Contabile.
The group planned to use the funds to put together Easter baskets for young women enrolled in the CAPA (Childbirth and Parenting Alone) program, sponsored by Catholic Charities. Randall soon realized that thanks to the overwhelming response, the baskets could be filled with more substantial, essential items instead of the small treats that had been planned.
So, a couple of weeks ago, the group, made up of a dozen sixth- through eighth-graders, headed to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. The youths filled three carts with diapers, formula and tiny socks for children from newborns to age 3. Then they added sweet-smelling soaps, shampoos and lotions for the mothers.
Kate Bradley, director of religious education for St. Thomas More, said it was fun to watch the youths shop in the baby aisles of the discount store.
Randall agreed. “They really got into it,” she said.
The group is predominately boys, and she said they gathered around her asking, “Is this the best kind of baby formula? What about this kind?”
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Alyx Taylor and her dad went to the Dollar Store to buy stuffed animals for the kids and gift items for the moms.
“We spent $261 at the Dollar Store,” Taylor said. “They had to open another register. We made the guy sweat.”
On March 21, the results of the shopping trips were laid out on tables in the cafeteria at St. Thomas More, and the excited group gathered to fill 39 Easter baskets.
Small packages of diapers, labeled by size and tied with colorful ribbons, nestled beside soft blankets embossed with yellow duckies. Rows of strawberry-scented shampoos and conditioners stood like little pink soldiers, while a nearby bag spilled out eye shadow and lip gloss.
Lisa Green, of CAPA, offered a special thank-you. She told the youths that many of the mothers who would receive the baskets were not much older than they are. “Some of these moms have never had an Easter basket,” she said. “And maybe their kids wouldn’t have one either if not for you.”
Soon, cheerful chaos reigned as the youths, fueled by cookies and soda, jostled around the tables, filling baskets. “Big stuff on the bottom,” Randall called out.
The kids grabbed teddy bears and tubes of diaper cream and tried to make everything fit in nicely.
A last-minute donation of Girl Scout cookies from a local Brownie troop meant that each basket was topped with a tasty treat.
Big grins and happy shouts revealed the joy this group felt in giving. Twelve-year-old Jimmy Jensen paused and said, “I think we’re really helping out.”