Community party brightens Christmas

All his life, Monte Nolting has believed in playing it forward, "always going out to help others."

Saturday, it was his turn to receive.

He and his four young children were among the more than 3,000 people who turned out for the 18th annual Downtown Christmas Party held at St. Francis of Assisi Church.

The party includes a turkey dinner, toys for children and activities such as face painting, inflatable bouncers and rides aboard the American Legion Post No. 19 train that was all decked in Christmas lights from Friday evening's Electric Light Parade. All this was provided at no cost to the community's less fortunate families through the efforts of generous donors and a legion of volunteers.

The event first started in downtown Yuma - hence the name - by a group of volunteers led by local agribusinessman Gary Pasquinelli. Several years ago it was moved to St. Francis of Assisi Church to accommodate the growing crowd.

The only criteria: "Just come and have a lovely hot meal," said Barbara Rochester, public relations director for Crossroads Mission, whose staff and volunteers prepared the food. They started cooking at 2 in the morning, preparing 140 turkeys - 1,600 pounds worth.

Rochester said about 3,000 people were fed last year; this year 3,500 meals were served.

But there was one big difference this year, Rochester noted as she looked around the cafeteria filled with families.

"There's more children than ever before," she said. "We've never had this many. It's devastating to see so many small kids. There's a lot of young families in need."

To confirm her observation, by noon organizers had run out of bags of chips which were served to the children who wanted a hot dog instead of turkey. And a line of waiting people still wound through the church's courtyard and around the side of the church for nearly a block, many pushing strollers with toddlers by their side.

"We had 1,000 bags," Rochester said as she made a frantic call for someone to make a grocery run for more chips.

All the servers are winter visitors from Canada, noted Louise McPherson. Teams of volunteers, including a number of teenagers, gave up part of their Saturday to lend a helping hand.

Also on hand to help out by maintaining order, assisting the disabled and high-fiving children, were several Marines in dress blues. They also brought toys that Santa dispersed to the children. Collected through the annual Toys for Tots campaign, Marine Corps Reserve provided about 1,800 toys for the event, said Master Sgt. Johnny McDaniel.

"It's wonderful to see the kids eat," Rochester said, "to enjoy a meal with their family and friends, then go see Santa and get a new toy."

Without the event, it would have been a bleak Christmas for his young family, Nolting said.

Between the slump in the housing industry and surgery he had last summer, he's been unemployed since August.

It was hard, he said, to ask for assistance after being self-reliant his whole life. But he came for the sake of his children, ages, 8, 7, 4 and 3.

"I'm a great giver, just not a good taker. So it was hard to come, but I did for the kids," he said, choking up. "I love that the community would do this."

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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumsun.com or 539-6853.