Girl Scouts take time for giving

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Sunday, December 20, 1998 3:00 AM CST

BY ELIZABETH BLAUSTEIN Journal Times

How does Santa fit all those presents into his sleigh on Christmas Eve?

Don't ask the Girl Scouts at Trinity Lutheran School. They had to use a station wagon, a minivan, a pickup truck and a sport utility vehicle to hold all the presents they collected in their toy drive.

The girls spent Saturday afternoon wrapping hundreds of stuffed animals, games and other toys to donate to the Love & Charity Mission, a local shelter and soup kitchen.

``I told them now they know what Santa's elves feel like," said Dawn Doperalski, school Girl Scout coordinator.

And take it from one exhausted elf, it wasn't easy.

``I am never going to work with Santa," said eighth-grader Heather Jensen as the last of the presents were loaded into the cars. ``Walking in there and seeing all those presents, you're like `Whoa, uh oh," and you hope you have enough wrapping paper."

This was the Girl Scouts' first toy drive at Trinity Lutheran School, 2065 Geneva St. For troop leaders it was a way to combine community service with an annual Christmas activity.

``Every year the Girl Scouts go caroling and come back to the school and do crafts," Doperalski said. ``We thought it'd be nice if we collected a few toys and then took them to Love & Charity."

A few toys? Try several hundred, or in third-grader Kristen Jenning's opinion, ``Like 1 million or something."

They collected video games, several kids' bikes, roller skates and more, all donated by members of Trinity Lutheran School and Church.

The girls said getting the toys was easy. One assistant teacher at the school, Beth McCue, matched the number of toys collected by her students with her own donations.

Most of the Girl Scouts also donated their own stuff so needy children would have Christmas presents to open.

``I think it's the right thing to do," said eighth-grader Laura Petersen, 13, ``especially by the people who have so many things. They should help with the people who don't have enough."

``When it's Christmas, they don't get a lot of stuff," said Doperalski's 8-year-old daughter, Alyssa. ``So we'll just give it to them."

The toys will be given to children at Love & Charity's annual Christmas Eve party. Shelter workers said they were thrilled with all the gifts, which filled six pews in the shelter's basement chapel.

``A lot of kids and a lot of parents are going to be very happy," said Jackie Hunter, daughter of shelter founder Louise Hunter, who was away when the Girl Scouts arrived.

``If Ms. Hunter were here," added ``Z," a volunteer and resident of the shelter, ``she'd be doing this all through the chapel."

Then she raised her hands above her head and started dancing around the children still trailing in with brightly wrapped presents.

``This is more than we could ever expect," she said, one last thanks before bidding good-bye. ``If only everybody had hearts like you folks.

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