Christmas Sharing drive spans half a century in Wheaton area

In a Wheaton church this weekend, children will light up with joy at the sight of gifts they won't bring home for themselves.

With the permission of the children's parents, volunteers at Trinity Episcopal Church will invite kids with generous hearts into a room just for them. And then each child from a low-income household will pick out a pair of gloves for Mom or a scarf for Dad.

The church volunteers will make sure their families will have neatly arranged boxes of food, toys, winter clothing and gift cards, delivering their wish list for the holidays. Trinity Episcopal has been running a Christmas Sharing gift drive for 50 years now, so it's a smooth-running, carefully orchestrated operation.

The kids delight in choosing jewelry, scarves, wallets, billfolds or assorted tools to give to their parents on Christmas morning, says Juliana Nelligan, a Trinity parishioner from Naperville.

“Every year, I shed some tears watching them come in,” she said.

Christmas Sharing began in 1969 when Bill Davisson, a school counselor at what was then Franklin Junior High, started an effort to feed hungry kids.

It's grown into a communitywide donation drive organized by a nonprofit group of eight participating churches: Trinity Episcopal, Gary United Methodist Church in Wheaton, First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton, Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Wheaton, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Wheaton, St. John Lutheran Church in Wheaton, Community Baptist Church in Warrenville and Wellspring Alliance Church in Warrenville.

“It wouldn't be Christmas if I wasn't doing this first,” said Nelligan, the Christmas Sharing board president.

This year, Christmas Sharing will reach more than 900 families of students who receive free and reduced-price lunches during the school year in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200.

Schools, Scout groups and businesses help collect donations. Families receive letters of invitation to pick up boxes of foods and gifts at one of the eight churches from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. to about noon Saturday.

“First and foremost, it's a labor of love for everybody,” said Nelligan, who got involved with Christmas Sharing almost 25 years ago.

Volunteers have spent the past week sorting donations. Starting Friday night, they will distribute the packages by an assigned number, not names, to protect the privacy of the recipients. They also will deliver the items to homes at a family's request.

Nelligan said the churches could still use volunteers Friday and Saturday. On average, each church serves around 100 families. To help out at Trinity, call (630) 665-1101. A directory of other church sites is at Christmas-sharing.org.

“It is an amazing project, and it's done with very few volunteers,” Nelligan said.

Wheaton Mayor Phil Suess recognized the 50th anniversary with a city proclamation declaring Dec. 8-14 as “Christmas Sharing Week.” Nelligan accepted the proclamation at a city council meeting and expressed this hope: “Let's do another 50!”