You can’t have a holiday activity without the proper atmosphere.
That’s why the mellow tones of a piano version of “White Christmas” floated through a workroom at the Salvation Army’s Roseville headquarters for the Toy Lift Program.
It put about a dozen volunteers in a festive mood while wrapping nearly a thousand toys that are being shipped to children in Minnesota and North Dakota from parents who don’t want the kids to forget about them.
These parents are incarcerated in one of six facilities, five in North Dakota and the Federal Correctional Institution in Waseca.
Those inmates were contacted back in the spring, and they picked out a bunch of toys, 37 to be exact, that they want their children to have for Christmas.
“They can select one item per child,” said Charles Berry, the Salvation Army’s correctional services director. “The child getting that gift from their parent, who they’ve been away from, is the most rewarding part.
Background checks at the prison ensure that the presents are going to the inmate’s child, and that no-contact orders aren’t violated.
The families know the gifts are coming, but nowhere on the package or wrapping paper does it say that the presents are from the Salvation Army.
“That’s the neat thing about it,” said Berry. “It’s just coming from the people who are incarcerated.”
Some of the volunteers are experts at the gift wrapping, and their work is now second-nature.
“It’s the same wrapping presents, it’s the same thing cutting it and taping it,” said Nancy Tonhave. “There’s no new way, or easy way, of wrapping presents because some of them are strange shapes.”
Which is why Nancy on Tuesday wrapped up small boxes.
“I took the easy one,” she said. “And I cut the paper yesterday, so I knew which ones were easier to wrap.”
Giles Lommel and his wife Falva are newbies to the program-this is their second year-and they rely on teamwork.
“Fumble around until you find a way to make it work, and you get pretty good at it,” said Giles, while Falva wrenched her way through some snarled strips of tape.
“Gotta use this packing tape, so it’s a little more difficult than regular Scotch tape,” said Falva, who admitted that she and her husband don’t work on their wrapping skills during the off-season.
“We got a system down.”
The Toy Lift Program has been more widespread in the past, with this year 954 children receiving gifts less than half of what was sent out in the past.
It hasn’t been available at Minnesota state prisons since the COVID pandemic shut down the entire program for the 2020 Christmas season.
“There’s always adjustments,” said Berry, who’s hopeful the Toy Lift will be back with Minnesota facilities in 2024.