Foiled by fire, Santa Claus Girls change giving plan

WALKER, Mich. (WOOD) — Because it still needs to sort through some 5,000 gifts that were in the DeltaPlex when it caught fire, a metro Grand Rapids charity will instead hand out gift cards to those in need this year.

The DeltaPlex Arena and Conference Center in Walker caught fire around 9 p.m. Friday. Firefighters were able to knock it down, but there was smoke damage in the building.

The Santa Claus Girls of Kent County, which was founded in 1908 to provide gifts to families in need during the holidays, leases space in the DeltaPlex. It had more than 5,000 gifts stored there to be distributed before Christmas.

“It was absolutely unbelievable to think of all of the thousands of children’s gifts that were sitting in this smoky box,” Rick Barteling, a board member and logistics coordinator for Santa Claus Girls, told News 8 on Wednesday.

Kent Co. nonprofit hopes DeltaPlex fire doesn’t impact Christmas gifts

It created the possibility that another holiday season would end with no gifts being delivered.

“The only worse feeling was in 2020 when we could do nothing at all,” Barteling said. “That was a very depressing Saturday, which would have been our normal delivery day that year.”

It’s unclear how the smoke affected the gifts. Damage crews continued to treat the building on Wednesday. Even when it reopens, the organization says it will take weeks to unwrap thousands of packages and find out which gifts are in acceptable condition and can still be delivered.

Santa Claus Girls needed another plan and was running out of time, with the delivery date right around the corner. It got insurance money from the fire, but buying new toys wasn’t an option because they wouldn’t arrive in time. A toy drive was impractical, too, because organizers wouldn’t be able to get things sorted for distribution to 2,500 families.

“It was a question of what can we do within the time constraints to help the kids? So we said gift cards,” Barteling said.

Those gift cards will be distributed on Dec. 9 by the drivers who would normally give out the toys.

“Those people that are registered as of the beginning of this week, as of the fire, will be getting a Christmas gift. It will come from us, it will come from our drivers and arrive on their doorstep,” Barteling said. “That’s a tremendous experience — there are people that have done it for years.”

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Greg Winer, a volunteer, said the gift cards can still make a difference in kids’ lives.

“We’re coming out of some hard times after the pandemic, the need is out there,” he said.

“Times are tough,” he continued. “Homelessness rates are high in Kent County. Any little bit of joy that we can bring to the families and the kids, it means a lot.”

The Santa Claus Girls will then start the meticulous process of inventorying the gifts — toys, books, clothes, winter gear and blankets — affected by the fire, getting them out of the DeltaPlex and unwrapped to see if they can still be used. Anything that is OK will be handed out next year.

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