Delivering Christmas, in the New Berlin "spirit"

Just before 9 a.m. Saturday, I arrived at the New Berlin Fire Station and was met by at least 15 other volunteers already organizing food baskets, toys and clothing donations that would be given away at this year’s Spirit of Christmas event.

Many of the volunteers had also worked the day before, picking up collections from various areas, such as the Unadilla Valley School, and then organizing the donations into equal proportions.

It was one of two different community events scheduled in the Village of New Berlin on Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus were scheduled to visit and make crafts over at the New Berlin Masonic temple later in the day. Dozens of area volunteers were on hand to help out at both.

Originally organized by the First United Methodist Church, the Spirit of Christmas event has grown into a non-denominational good will drive with several organizations participating, including St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church of New Berlin; St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church of South New Berlin; and students from Unadilla Valley.

Besides the warm greetings and introductions I received, one of the first things I noticed when I arrived were the ample food boxes lined along the wall. Each one contained a family-sized Christmas ham, a large bag of potatoes, several pieces of fruit, canned soups, peanut butter and jelly, a box of candy canes and some packages of pasta.

United Methodist volunteer Marty Benson began participating in the program four years ago. She now coordinates the food boxes with a list of needy families and helps direct blurry-eyed volunteers, like myself, who were looking to be productive.

“One of the great things I like telling people is that the program we stated at United Methodist just got too big. We started working with other area churches, the school and the village until and we all needed more room. Now we all work together and have it here (New Berlin FD),” she said. “It’s just a gratifying feeling, the thought of giving to people, especially the kids.”