BERLIN — The Pistol Creek Clubhouse was transformed into an offshoot of Santa’s Workshop for the Social and Youth Services Department’s annual holiday distribution last week.
With around 200 of the department’s clients receiving food and toys inside the Spruce Brook Road clubhouse, around 20 volunteers buzzed between tables stacked with paper bags labeled for each family.
Jan Serafino, who has been volunteering for around eight years and used to run the event, said the distribution has a fun atmosphere and a lot of goodwill
“It makes you feel good to be able to help those who are a little less fortunate and we do have a lot of those in Berlin,” she said.
Berlin residents Sharon Reckert and Margaret Bishop, who have been volunteering for five and three years respectively, said the event is a great way to become connected and make new friends. They helped run the toy distribution, tracking down the right bag of presents when a family’s number was called.
A few volunteers braved the cold to meet with clients as they pulled up in cars and presented the numbered card the department mailed them ahead of time. The number was run inside and called out and carts of food and toys were wheeled out to the recipients.
“The first couple hours are very chaotic, but you get into the groove,” Reckert said.
Another 30 or so households that are unable to make it to the distribution had special deliveries made to their homes on Sunday by the Berlin Lions Club. The organization received a list of addresses and wishlists from the department and collected their own donations to ferry around town.
With over three decades of holiday distributions behind them, there’s so much excitement to help that the department has more donors than recipients, said social worker Jaymee Miller. The department assists roughly 155 children.
A few turkeys were even given out, though the lack of refrigeration at the clubhouse limited how many the volunteers could handle. Gift cards to grocery stores, worth between $25 and $55, were also distributed.
“The community is so generous,” Serafino said. “The fact that this can happen is because of the generosity of others in the community.”
[email protected]
203-317-2317
Twitter: @leith_yessian
