Bags and bags of Christmas gifts

By Bill Doyle 
CFP CORRESPONDENT

WORCESTER – Dorothy Hinkle no longer lives in Worcester and hasn’t been a member of St. Peter Parish for quite a while, but the parish left a life-long impression on the 79-year-old Westborough resident.
“It was our parish; it was family,” she said.
So, for the fifth year in a row, Mrs. Hinkle, her husband, Paul, their son and two of her sisters dropped off presents for the St. Peter Christmas toy drive for families in need.
“We had heard that the parish does this every year,” Mrs. Hinkle said, “and we decided we would do this for Christmas for the kids.”
Mrs. Hinkle, who will turn 80 next month, and her husband, 84, dropped off gift bags last week. The sisters made several trips with SUVs stocked with winter coats and more than 100 large gift bags of toys, outfits, pajamas, hats and mittens. They even donated a few baseball bats.
At first, the sisters quietly dropped off their gifts and didn’t even tell the parish their names. St. Peter’s eventually learned more about them, but they never wanted any recognition. A reporter had to persuade Mrs. Hinkle to be interviewed for this article by telling her that it might motivate others to donate as well. The donor didn’t feel comfortable providing the names of her son and sisters, however.
“They just go above and beyond,” St. Peter’s administrative assistant Amie Neville said, “and the looks on their faces when they do it is also remarkable. They’re just so happy to do it. They always say when they leave, after bringing so many gifts, ‘If you need more, just call us.’”
“They’re dedicated to helping others,” Paul Hinkle said of his wife and her sisters, “because of what they went through in their own childhood. They know what it is to give and to be able to give.”
Mrs. Hinkle’s father died when she was 9, and one sister, the youngest of the family’s five children, was only 5 months old.
“We grew up fairly poor,” Mrs. Hinkle said.
She said that, in a day and age when many other children in the same predicament might have gone into foster care, her mother worked hard to keep the family together in their home, and ensured that each of her children furthered his or her education beyond high school.
So what would her mother think of her daughters donating to the St. Peter toy drive?
“I think that she would be like, ‘Well, why wouldn’t you be doing that?’” Mrs. Hinkle said.
St. Peter’s plans to distribute more than 1,000 gifts in all, to children aged 16 and under from 300-400 families, according to food pantry and toy drive coordinator Nancy Prostak. The families don’t have to be parishioners of St. Peter’s or its mission, St. Andrew the Apostle, as long as they live in the Main South or Columbus Park sections of Worcester.
Each child receives a toy and an article of clothing and each family gets a food basket. One family in need has 11 children aged 16 and under. People without children also receive food baskets.
“Being parents, we know how kids are on Christmas morning,” Mrs. Hinkle said, “and if there’s nothing there, it’s not a good thing.”
Mrs. Hinkle doesn’t really get to see the faces of the youngsters when they open the presents she donated, but she insisted, “Oh yes, we do.”
She was referring to her imagination. Visions of happy children, not sugar plums, dance in her head.
“On Christmas morning, that’s what I think about,” she said. “That parents and children are so happy.”
The sisters begin purchasing gifts for the following year as soon as Christmas is over – to take advantage of the sales.
Guess where they store the gifts throughout the year. Under the beds, according to Paul Hinkle. Others are stored in the basement.
Ms. Prostak is one of more than 15 volunteers who organize and distribute the gifts.
 “We get a lot of thank yous,” she said. “People are very pleased. It’s the thanks that makes me feel gratified that people appreciate what we do. We get to know the people, they depend on us and it’s nice to be able to help them.”
Many families register for the toy drive year after year.
“They’re caring people,” Ms. Prostak said. “It’s just that fate sometimes has given them a tough time.”
Eighth-graders at St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School help pack the gifts and fill the food baskets.
“They look forward to it,” Mrs. Neville said. “It’s a rite of passage for all the kids. They know when they’re in the eighth grade, it’s something they’ll get to do.”
The toy drive is the culmination of the parish’s year-long effort to reach out to the community.
“To me, Christmas and Thanksgiving are part of a whole year-long thing,” said Msgr. Francis J. Scollen, pastor of St. Peter’s and St. Andrew’s. “It’s not once a year. We help people all year long here in all sorts of ways. People are very generous.”
Msgr. Scollen pointed out that 300 young people will take part in the parish’s CYC basketball program this winter and that 35 people were treated on a recent Thursday night at the free weekly medical clinic.
Ms. Prostak said the parish food pantry distributes free groceries from St. Peter’s gym each Wednesday morning to about 120 families from the Main South and Columbus Park sections of Worcester who have registered with the parish. Because of the pandemic, all food is taken to people in their vehicles. During the height of the pandemic, the pantry gave food to more than 200 families a week.
The parish also fed 450 families on Thanksgiving. One parishioner has donated more than 50 turkeys each year for the past five years.
Ms. Prostak said that, during the pandemic, toy drive donations have remained strong, not only from parishioners, but from others, including the U.S. Marine Corps, St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School, St. Columba Parish in Paxton and the Clark University police department. The Worcester Police Department and District Attorney’s Office also provide assistance.

Editor’s note: Those interested in donating can call
St. Peter’s at 508-752-4674. Donations can be dropped off at the parish gym behind the rectory at 929 Main Street until the toys are distributed on Wednesday, Dec. 22.