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Church adopts 'dresser ministry' to help new parents

Jul. 25, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and a UMTV report are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By John Gordon*

LE MARS, Iowa (UMNS) - Like many young couples, Brad and Melody Wheeler
wondered about making ends meet as they started their family with not
one addition but two.

But a ministry launched by a nearby United Methodist church gave the
Wheelers and their twins a head start by donating a dresser filled with
many of the items their children will need in their first year.

"It was sent from God," said Brad Wheeler. "I think it's the biggest
blessing we've had so far."

Gracie Ruth and Colton James Wheeler were born prematurely May 29, after
Melody Wheeler went through a difficult pregnancy. They spent several
weeks in a hospital's intensive-care unit before returning home to Sioux
City.

"It was really scary," she recalled. "Any parent who goes through that
with just one child, but having two of them in there, that was extra
hard."

Soon after the twins got out of the hospital, members of the United
Methodist Church of Le Mars showed up to deliver a dresser filled with
blankets and clothes, diapers and other baby essentials.

"We had a rough go of it in the beginning, you know, because I'm 20 and
she's going to be 18," said Brad Wheeler. "But we got through it, and
we're still getting through it."

Brad holds a full-time job cleaning cars at a rental agency and works
part time in the meat department at a supermarket.

The church started the ministry to help families meet the costs of
raising their children in the first year. Other churches - in a variety
of faith traditions - have been providing similar ministries for more
than 10 years.

"Just the diapers and formula and that kind of thing alone, without even
putting clothing on children, is very costly" said Cristi Bauerly, who
heads the dresser ministry at the church.

"It can be very overwhelming for people, if they are just struggling day
to day to meet their needs," she said.

Church members originally packed the dresser for one child. When they
learned they were helping twins, members donated additional items for
both. The dresser also includes a book on caring for children, a
mother's devotional Bible and Bibles for the children.

The Wheelers and the church were brought together by the Alpha Center, a
pro-life pregnancy resource center in Sioux City. The head of the
agency, Deb Sypersma, said offers of help can make a difference for
young mothers trying to decide whether to keep their children.

"So many people that we have talked to who have had abortions in the
past will say, 'if only one person would have said to me, "I'll help
you"' - whether it's financially, materially, babysitting, praying for
her - that they would have chosen a different path," she said.

Sypersma said the ministry will help fill a big need in the community.

"We get calls on a daily basis from moms who don't have any diapers,
they don't have any formula, and it's just heartbreaking," she said.

The church hopes to fill four dressers per year and donate them to area
families.

"We don't do a lot of ministry, I think, as a church as a whole for
single moms or moms in general," said the Rev. Jason Larson, the
church's associate pastor. "So this is a really nice addition."

Melody Wheeler is now a full-time mom but plans to continue her
education in the future.

"I want to go to college after they get a little older," she said, "so
that we can have a better life."

In the meantime, she is grateful for the help her family received from
the church.

"We really needed the dresser, and it's such a nice dresser-and all the
stuff in it, too," she said.

Bauerly hopes the ministry will continue providing a financial boost-and
hope-to young families.

"There are a lot of people that really care and have a lot of love to
share."

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.

News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5458
or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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