Baby shower provides 5,000 ounces of formula

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Joyce Grist receives 5,000 ounces of soy- and milk based formula, diapers, baby food and cereal, baby bottles, bibs, onezies, baby blankets during the month of May to donate to Crossroads Urban Center Baby Cupboard. IC photo courtesy of Joyce Grist

SALT LAKE CITY — During the month of May, St. Ambrose parish held a baby shower and collected 5,000 ounces of soy- and milk-based formula, baby items, and baby clothes to donate to Crossroads Urban Center.

"Every jar of food, every box of cereal, and every diaper, has blessed some child’s life," said Joyce Grist, a member of St. Ambrose Parish and co-chairwoman of the baby shower. "There will always be a need because these items are so expensive," said Grist.

"The baby shower, sponsored by St. Ambrose Women’s Council, was so successful last year, they decided to make it an annual event," said Grist. "I thought it would be great to also involve the students at J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School in Salt Lake City.

"The students were so excited to get involved," said Grist. "It meant a lot to them to be able to help other children who might have to go hungry. Nedda Osborn, the art teacher at Cosgriff, had her fifth grade classes make the posters. Joon Bae, a member of St. Ambrose, provided the pictures for the students to color to help advertise the baby shower. I was amazed at how creative the artwork turned out."

Grist said they sent out flyers listing all of items they needed. The students went shopping with their parents, and to them buying baby bottles and formula was boring so they ended up also buying onezies, blankets, and bibs."

Father William Wheaton, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, arranged to have the children take up the diapers and formula to the altar with the collection at each of the Masses.

"It was really special and made me feel like crying to see children helping children," said Grist.

Crossroads Urban Center is a multipurpose nonprofit, organization in Salt Lake City that assists low income, disabled, and minority Utahns in meeting their basic survival needs by providing them with discounted supplemental food.

"There are some families in which the main breadwinner may have lost his or her job and the family needs temporary help, or working poor families who simply cannot survive earning minimum wages. They need ongoing assistance," said Rachel Fischbein, Director of Crossroads Urban Center food pantry distribution.

"The Crossroads Food Co-op offers select grocery staples at up to 50 percent below retail," said Fischbein. "Crossroads operates through collective buying, low over-head, and a lot of volunteers. Each month members pre-order their groceries. The Co-op buys the food from local and national producers and wholesalers, who deliver the food to the Crossroads warehouse."

"This is a huge help to Crossroads," said Fischbein. "Everything goes out as fast as it comes in. Last month we served 41 families with baby food and formula, and 150 families with diapers. Drives like this are essential for us to continue running the Baby Cupboard. I send a hearty thank you to all of them."

"I want to thank all the volunteers, especially my co-chairwoman Marie Suchyta, for all their help, and Tom Warner and Cyriaque Beurtheretf who faithfully delivered the donations to Crossroads every week," said Grist.