Pass-Along-Party Brings Gift of Holiday Giving to Ames Residents

Food at First's fourth annual Pass-Along Party on Saturday brought a pile of presents and about 45 participants.

People have brought in donations of new and gently used items to an empty downtown Ames office building all week so those who can't afford to make purchases could pick out unwrapped gifts to give through the holidays.

“It's frustrating not having anything to give this time of year,” said Scott Walker, the event's organizer “We're giving the gift of giving.”

About 45 people ate a free meal at , where Walker houses Food at First, and then took a place in line at a Fifth Street office building. People were called by number and took turns walking inside sorting through coats, tables of kitchen items and toys. They filled large brown paper sacks with gifts as they walked.

A woman identified as No. 29 found exactly what her son wanted, a pair of black and white ice skates.

“This is what he's been begging for,” she said to Walker with a smile. “I didn't expect to find them here.”

Walker's church started the party four years ago, but it's become a community-wide event, he said.

The girls' basketball team came to volunteer, along with their coaches, Joel Sullivan and Chuck Stevens.

“Our kids are really excited about it,” Sullivan said. “It's good to give back.”

Sullivan has brought the team all four years. At the end of each season most team members tell Sullivan that the party was one of the funnest things they did, he said.

The number of gifts increased and the number of people decreased compared with years past. Walker isn't sure why.

He did make a last-minute plea for gifts fearing they wouldn't have enough, but they had plenty. The party has drawn as many as 70 people in previous years.

Leftover items will be donated to a group living in the Appalachian Mountains, Walker said.