By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.

– The changing of holiday seasons, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, means Melissa Cardenas will go from sorting food to sorting toys.

Both are large operations, but the latter is more than child’s play for volunteers like Cardenas who will organize a Community Christmas Toy Store for parents to “shop” and provide presents for their children.

“The toy store is fun because you get to shop with the client,” said Cardenas. “It is amazing to me how few people are behind the scenes, considering how much they get done. In three days, they get toys sorted by age group and it looks like a shopping mall when the clients come in.”

The Community Christmas Toy Store, a non-profit organization, serves low-income families who reside within the Brandon School District. The group is currently accepting donations of toys for children up to 12-years-old at collection boxes at businesses all over town. The gifts will be collected and on Dec. 9 and 10, volunteers will organize and set up a toy store at St. Anne Church from which clients in need will be able to select presents for their children on Dec. 11.

“It means a lot, most of the people are working, but they are considered the working poor,” said Linda Mizejewski, CCTS president. “It only takes one doctor bill or one car repair to not be able to buy groceries or not be able to buy Christmas gifts. Maybe they are just getting by and don’t have the extra for Christmas gifts. I’ve been (volunteering) for 10 years it makes me feel good that the kids are going to have something to open on Christmas Day and parents are able to help the kids feel part of the whole celebration and not feel deprived.”

Mizejewski and Cardenas are well aware of the joys of volunteering with CCTS and they hope others will join them in not only giving toys, but giving of their time and talent to make a toy store magically appear.

Cardenas notes that the volunteer efforts start well before the Christmas season, with some people shopping sales year round and with a community that is so giving, there are hundreds of gifts to organize. Volunteers will work to sort toys by age and gender. There will be tables of stuffed animals and tables of stocking stuffers, tables of books and tables of board games and a table of gloves, hats and scarves. The organizing takes many hours, and volunteers give of their time as they are able. Some give a few hours, some give a 20-hour day. As the volunteers get the toys organized, they see areas they may be short gifts in— usually the deficiencies are in donations of gifts for children in the 10-12-year-old range— and volunteer shoppers will then rush out in the evening before distribution and use cash donations to purchase gifts for children in this age range.

About 250 children in total will benefit from all this generosity. Their parents will be welcomed into the church, each with a shopping cart, and will be allowed to select items from each of the tables according to the ages of their children.

“It’s nice to see the excitement on the client’s face,” said Cardenas. “When you walk them to their car, sometimes they even give you a hug, they are pleased to take something home to their kids… Some of the clients have been coming for years, and sometimes you get a first-timer who doesn’t know how it works and they are surprised at the spirit and the amount of gifts they walk away with. I think this helps me with my Christmas spirit— the spirit is to give more than you receive. I think I get as much out of it as they do. When my daughter was in high school, college and beyond now and she used to come and help me and I think it is good for kids who haven’t experienced hard times to be appreciative of what they have already, and puts things into perspective and to experience the joy of giving. Come and experience it with us, we are always looking for volunteers.”

An informational meeting on CCTS will be at 7 p.m., Dec. 5, at St. Anne Church, 825 S. Ortonville Road and will detail how to get involved. If you are unable to attend the meeting and want to know more about how to volunteer or make a donation, call Linda Mizejewski at 248-627-2641 or visit www.brandonccts.org. If you shop online at Amazon, please pick brandonccts.org as a recipient of Amazon Smiles.