Baby Shower for Jesus to aid Manteca nonprofit

Oakland Tribune, Dec 22, 2006 by Paul Burgarino

MANTECA -- Many say that Jesus is the reason for the season, but he was also the catalyst for a donation drive to benefit babies in the community.

St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church held its annual Baby Shower for Jesus at Christmas event during all Sunday Masses last weekend, with the offerings going to Pregnancy Help Center in Manteca.

During the offertories, parishioners brought gift-wrapped goodies for babies, cash and checks to a Nativity setting -- minus the baby Jesus -- at the foot of the altar.

The idea started when Sister Ann Venita Britto F.C. moved to the Manteca parish from St. George's in Stockton. She talked with the pastor about an event the community could get behind and celebrate Jesus' birth "just like (that of) a regular baby."

"It made a lot of sense to give these items to a group that works with babies," she said. Parishioners say she spends a lot of time assisting Pregnancy Help Center.

Britto said the community has responded generously.

"A lot of people get quite excited. Especially the seniors who haven't had a baby to shop for in quite some time," she said. "One woman told me that she knitted every night while watching television and made little patchwork blankets for the babies."

Pregnancy Help Center, which was created in 1988 and has helped more than

7,500 women, provides services such as counseling to young pregnant women in addition to helping them with things such as baby formula and diapers.

The bundles of gifts for the bundles of joy required three vans and a pickup truck to transport them all to the center.

"There were a lot of things there that we can really use," volunteer Carolyn Hill said. "Things we run out of the most are formula and diapers. We're always running out of those."

Other churches in Manteca, Lathrop and French Camp have held similar donation drives for the program, also providing monthly donations that help "pay the rent," Hill said.

"We also have some women who do things like crochet blankets for the babies," she said. "We couldn't exist without community support, and to see things like with St. Anthony's, it's overwhelming."

The nonprofit agency made up strictly of volunteers has benefited from the program for the past four years.

In addition to providing supplies, the center also gives counseling and material help to pregnant women.

Pregnancy Help Center is open Monday through Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. For more information, call (209) 239-9899.