The Catholic Standard & Times - Santa’s elves set up shop in West Chester

Santa’s elves set up shop
in West Chester

By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T

WEST CHESTER — Chester County isn’t as far away from downtown Philadelphia as the North Pole, but it is still a fair hike for “elves” who live in this part of the Archdiocese and want to participate in Operation Santa Claus, a 40-year archdiocesan tradition.

That’s why a satellite wrapping center was set up at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in West Chester on Dec. 9. Santa’s satellite “workshop” is now in its second year in Chester County.

In all, the volunteers at St. Maximilian Kolbe wrapped 1,330 donated gifts, which will go to 438 children and some additional groups. The busy elves also designed 200 greeting cards for the families, according to Jennifer Byrd, Chester County coordinator for the archdiocesan Office for Youth and Young Adults (OYYA).

“We had 280 teens, adult volunteers and chaperones,” Byrd said.

It was quite an operation. First of all, members of St. Maximilian Kolbe Council 11319 of the Knights of Columbus gathered the donated toys from participating parishes. Then the young people, representing17 parish youth ministry groups and Villa Maria Academy, sorted the gifts by age and sex, and wrapped them. Finally, the presents were loaded into a leased moving van donated by Scott Darling of Remax Realtors, Exton, to be brought into the city and distributed on Christmas Eve.

As the kids worked — clad in elf T-shirts donated by Dutch Village Soft Pretzels, and drinking bottled water donated by Wawa Dairies — they also munched on cookies baked by Mary Schiele, the mother of St. Maximilian parochial vicar Father John D. Schiele.

For many groups, the gift-wrapping session is a yearly event. For example, Operation Santa Claus is the annual service project chosen by the varsity basketball team of SS. Simon and Jude School on Cavanaugh Court.

“There were a lot of presents — the stage was completely filled,” said Annie Langdon, an eighth-grader at SS. Simon and Jude. “We sorted and wrapped them, and it was very satisfying. I’d do this again.”

Megan McBride, a sophomore at Villa Maria Academy, said 15 students from her school helped in tackling the mountain of gifts: “There were so many presents — Barbies, trucks, games. It’s just nice to be able to help other kids.”

Kevin Moore, a member of the Chester County youth advisory board for OYYA and a member of St. Joseph Parish in Downingtown, said one of the best things about the group effort was getting to meet and work with teens from other parishes. “We do this so that destitute kids can have presents,” he said. “This is absolutely neat.”

“It’s fun to have them all here in our parish,” said Father Schiele who celebrated Mass for the group at the end of the day. “Before, we used to just collect the toys. This is better.”

Operation Santa Claus officially kicked off this year with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Justin Rigali at the central wrapping center in Philadelphia. Overall, it involves a team effort by about 2,000 teen volunteers engaged in collecting, sorting, wrapping and, finally, delivering the toys.

“We will be serving over 5,000 children this year,” said Andrea Meyer, interim director of the archdiocesan Office for Youth and Young Adults.

For further information concerning Operation Santa Claus call 215-965-4625.

Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo parish and a freelance writer.

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