March 30, 2022
Baskets of joy
Around Town
Duchesne High School welcomes new head football coach. Pg. 4
Launched 18-years-ago, St. Peters’ Alleluia Baskets, is a nonprofit that puts together Easter baskets for those less fortunate.
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Alleluia Baskets is a St. Peters charity that puts together Easter baskets for children in need who otherwise would not have received one By Brett Auten For Karen Mesler, it’s the Super Bowl, or Game Seven of the World Series. “We work all year for this,” she said. Eighteen years ago this week, Mesler began Alleluia Baskets, a St. Peters charity that puts together Easter baskets for those less fortunate. Mesler spearheaded 7,025 basket distributions, mostly to children, who otherwise would not have received one. The project started out as a parish school project for 25 needy children and has snowballed its way to an effort filling over 30,000 baskets and involving volunteers from numerous states.
Demand for the baskets have grown so much that Mesler and her army of volunteers added baskets for seniors. “We have to take care of our heritage,” she said. “They get left out (during Easter) a lot of times.” When she started this effort, she had no idea where it would go. But once she got into it, she felt the impact. Mesler finds recipients through local government agencies and churches as well as food banks and individuals. She recently left her full-time job to pursue her passion project. “There are no paychecks, but a lot more happiness,” Mesler said. Mesler recalled a time four years ago when she went out on a delivery. Usually,
she never gets to see the reactions as the contacts and volunteers handle drop-off duties. It was the words of a child that fortified her belief in the project even more. “She said, ‘I can’t believe you thought of me when you don’t really know me,’” Mesler said. “I had never had that impact before. That moved me to continue. Just her graciousness and kindness.” Mesler was spurred by the idea of the less fortunate children who may receive only something at Christmas but not at Easter to bring the importance of the Easter season. In 2004, she was teaching eighth-grade students at All Saints Parish in St. Peters See ‘BASKETS ‘ page 2
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