Chariton County Child Welfare Advisory Committee

At the November meeting of the Keytesville Chamber of Commerce, the Chariton County Child Welfare Advisory Committee was named Volunteers of the Quarter.

Terry Hulett, President of the Chariton County Child Welfare Advisory Committee for the last three years, provided the following information about the group and what the group does each year.

First of all, the Chariton County Child Welfare Advisory Committee is well over 30 years old and has been a vital part of making Christmas merry for many Chariton County residents. The group according to its constitution, which was last revised in 1989, states that the advisory committee is to consist of not less than 9 people and not more than 17 people. Currently, the group has a maximum number of 17 people.

Starting with a fund raising dinner in September, the group then later places boxes for donations of toys in the county area banks. The contents of these boxes are collected and the first Monday after Thanksgiving the group meets every morning starting at 8:30 a.m. and concluding about noon Monday through Friday for two straight weeks to wrap and coordinate the gifts.

One might wonder how the coordinating works so that the correct family gets the proper number of gifts, grocery supplies, hygiene products etc. The Division of Family Services has application blanks that the adult(s) in the family fill out listing the number of children per family and their ages and their sex plus three items that each child would like to receive for Christmas. The first item listed is the most desired gift with the other two items listed as desired, but not essential. Every effort is then made by the Child Welfare Advisory Committee to give each child its most desired gift. The other two gifts that the child receives may not be the other ones requested, but are things that likely the child needs such as a pair of pajamas, a blanket or a hat, pair or mittens, and coat. The Christmas boxes also contain some grocery items that will help provide meals or stretch meals for the holidays.

At the conclusion of the second week of work by the members of the Advisory Committee, after the final gifts have been wrapped and the boxes have been totally prepared, the recipients are allowed to come in and pick up their boxes. The Advisory Committee even has a formula for the distribution of these boxes as well. First, the towns that stage the distribution are rotated each year. This year, Keytesville was the place the recipients came to claim their boxes, next year it will be Brunswick, and the next year after that will be Salisbury. Then the rotation starts over, so that each town has one year out of three when their town is the place of distribution.

For privacy purposes, each family is given a number which corresponds with the information that was received on their registration sheet and the boxes are also numbered correspondingly. Five recipients are allowed into the receiving area at one time. Fortunately for the Child Welfare Advisory Committee, according to President Hulett, they have always had plenty of volunteering men who have helped on the day of distribution to load the heavy boxes of goodies or assist with moving the boxes when needed.

When Mrs. Hulett was asked if there was anything she remembered as being a very unusual gift request, she said nothing came to mind as being overly unusual, but she did share that some of the most difficult presents to wrap have been fishing rods and skateboards!

Mrs. Hulett is justifiably proud of the work the Chariton County Child Welfare Advisory Committee does each year and she indicated that as soon as one year’s work is done, the work starts for the next year. Fortunately for the group, they have a storage unit where they can store gifts in totes (to keep them clean and fresh) from late Dec. of one year to the next time the wrapping of gifts starts the next year. She also indicated that people in Chariton County are very generous with their monetary donations and the group tries to stretch the dollars they are given by shopping after Christmas sales for some of the next year’s gifts and wrapping paper, etc. They also take advantage of sales that they see at other times to make sure they have an adequate supply of necessities to augment the gifts that are traditionally given. Members of the Child Welfare Advisory Committee have been allowed to use Enyeart’s Auction and Realty building in Keytesville for their work in getting the presents wrapped and the boxes packed for the last several years. Since the building is all on one level, it makes it much more convenient than previous locations where they did their work in basements and it was difficult to negotiate the stairs with the supplies (as they worked) and for distribution (when the recipients came to claim their boxes).

Many in Chariton County will have a Merry Christmas thanks to the work and dedication of the Chariton County Child Welfare Committee and the generosity of the citizens of Chariton County who donate toys and money to make this event happen.

Members of the Chariton County Child Welfare Advisory Committee indicate that they receive many thanks and expressions of gratitude for the things the recipients have received which makes them feel their work is definitely worthwhile.