MAPO Holiday Shoutout provided free items for nearly 200 families

“This event means we can help bring joy to people’s lives and bless them with some of the material things they may not be able to afford for their families,” mentioned MAPO President Henrietta Young. “We wish to give them pleasure this Christmas season. We have garments that they’ll use all 12 months spherical and we even have faculty provides.

“We had a group from Hoyleton Youth and Family Services and these young men were so happy to get coats and gloves. They were so thankful and blessed and that was a joy that is etched in my memory and will stay there for a long time to come.”

This is the third 12 months the occasion has been held on the Shrine. The 2018 launch occasion was held on the Wilkerson Chapel AME Church in Collinsville. In 2019, MAPO chartered buses to go to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Springfield.

“We were delighted and blessed to serve nearly 200 families today and nearly 100 vehicles came through,” mentioned MAPO General Manager Vergia Burrell. “Many of those automobiles had a number of families and we’re assured that now we have been capable of assist many in want.

“It’s always good to be able to give something back to the community. We’ve had great volunteering this year and leftover items go to the 10 shelters we support.”

MAPO Founder Dorothy Owens, in the meantime, was delighted with the response to the Holiday Shoutout, each when it comes to the variety of volunteers and the variety of families the occasion served.

“I think this year is our best year for volunteers and we had several organizations that wanted to help us,” Owens mentioned. “This is God’s work and God’s imaginative and prescient, and we’re right here to do God’s will, God’s work and God’s manner.

“In that respect it has already been successful. We have plenty of supplies and people are queuing around the corner to help love and certainly hope.”

Owens famous that rising inflation mixed with greater than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic made the necessity for assist for many families better than ever.

“More people need help than ever before, and we will provide that help in the best way we can,” Owens mentioned.

“We wanted to make sure we could still provide assistance during times of economic challenge,” added Burrell. “We put a smile on many people’s faces today.”

MAPO Vice President Butch Mestemacher is among the many individuals who spent months making ready the Holiday Shoutout.

“Here, the needy have the opportunity to get clothing supplies, especially for the winter,” mentioned Mestemacher. “It’s an event that people return to year after year. Word got around and the response was fantastic.”

Mestemacher appreciated the generosity of the neighborhood and varied organizations for offering items for the giveaway.

“This is a 12 months of accumulating. If somebody has one thing that turns into accessible, we are able to take it and retailer it,” Mestemacher mentioned. “Funds are additionally coming in from a few of our donors to exit and purchase items.

“When we started we didn’t have that much funding to do this, but more and more are donating financially to this event. We have 4,000 pairs of Bombas socks, twice as many as last year.”

The occasion was attended by dozens of volunteers who sorted items and delivered them to folks of their automobiles.

“The volunteers are very important and you can tell they’re happy,” Young mentioned. “You have already expressed that you feel so blessed to be able to support our mission to help others. Many of them are doing the same in their churches and I was happy to see so many volunteers.”

Any items not given away on Saturday will discover a dwelling with one of many many organizations MAPO serves.

“We will go to other groups that we support and bring something to them,” Mestemacher mentioned. “We’re not going to take this stuff and store it for the next year — it’s going to an animal shelter or wherever it’s needed.”

“Our goal was to give away all brand new items this year and we gave away brand new pillows, blankets, hats and scarves as well as the donation of 4,000 unisex Bombas socks,” Burrell mentioned. “The items that were not brand new were only lightly used.”

Sejal Sekhar was among the many younger volunteers within the draw. Sekhar, a senior on the Visitation Academy in St. Louis, will journey to Washington, DC, subsequent summer season to satisfy President Joe Biden and different political officers throughout a week-long go to to the capital as a part of the US Senate Youth Program the place two college students originate from Each state is chosen for the journey.

“We’re going to be speaking to people in DC, including the President and the Supreme Court Justices, and my ultimate goal is to be a Supreme Court Justice,” Sekhar mentioned. “To be capable to meet individuals who have impressed me, like (Associate Justice) Sonia Sotomayor, to listen to their tales and see what they have been by whereas breaking stereotypes and serving to individuals who do not have the Having assets is an incredible alternative for me.

“All week I’ve been nervous (about ready to see if she will get chosen) nevertheless it’s necessary to go there and be taught that now we have to do it in public coverage as a result of that is what I wish to research . I wish to be a lawyer and assist with immigration regulation and issues like that. Because of my household’s historical past, I wish to go it on for the issues which have been given to me.”

Passing it on is a precedence for each Sekhar and her dad and mom who’re MAPO members.

“My parents are very involved in the ministry because when they came here (from India) the community and resources that were given to them helped them get to where they are today,” Sekhar mentioned. “An enormous factor for us is to make use of training to make the world a greater place and there was a paramilitary drive in India that prevented my grandmother from getting an training safely.

“There are so many inequalities in the world, so it is important to me to break down these systemic barriers to give everyone equal and fair opportunities.”

MAPO provides Sekhar and her dad and mom the right alternative to assist folks on an area stage.

“My father speaks of using what you have been given to pass it on,” Sekhar mentioned. “You have to make sure what you have is paid for because the place you’ve been given is there for a reason. You have to work with other people to help them get ahead in the world.”

The social dedication of the MAPO members and volunteers on Saturday was significantly encouraging for Mestemacher.

“We have some wonderful people working here, people who just love the Lord,” Mestemacher mentioned. “They are devoted to the service of God, and Christians must be concerned in society. There’s a bent to sit down again and suppose another person will do it, however we love individuals who take motion.”

The subsequent huge occasion on the MAPO calendar is the annual honors dinner scheduled for June 10, 2023 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

For extra details about MAPO, name 618-799-8020 or 618-589-6078, go to https://www.metro-mapo.org/ or e-mail [email protected]