Children donate stuffed animals, make up packages for children in foster care
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 months, 1 week AGO
Children from the East Moses Lake Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make up packages Saturday for children displaced from their homes. Each package included books, a toothbrush and toothpaste, snacks and water as well as a stuffed toy and a picture contributed by a child.
COURTESY PHOTO/AMY DUVALL
Children from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show pictured they colored to include in the packages they assembled Saturday for children in foster care.
The stuffed toy drive and care packages were a lesson to the children, who ranged in age from 3 to 11, in community service and generosity.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | March 11, 2026 3:30 AM
MOSES LAKE — Children from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints East Moses Lake Stake brought in stuffed toys Saturday to add to packages for children in foster care.
“We have the children each bring in one stuffed animal, and each ward (congregation) within our stake donates the water and snacks that we put in,” said Primary First Counselor Mindi Hirz.
The children, ages 3 to 11, made up 150 packages consisting of a stuffed animal, a picture colored by the child, books, snacks and toothbrushes and toothpaste, Primary President Amy Duvall wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. The toothbrushes were donated by Smile Surfers and Division Street Dental Clinic, Duvall added.
“Once they put the bags together, we take them and donate them to (the Department of Social and Health Services),” Hirz said. “That way, when kiddos are being displaced from their homes, we can give them something for comfort.”
The stuffed animals the children brought in were all new, Duvall said Saturday.
“Last year we had some we had to get rid of,” she said. "They were a little too used.”
This is the second year the church has held the event, Duvall said. Last year’s turnout was considerably larger, she said, but at that time all of Moses Lake was covered by one ward. It has since divided into two, Moses Lake and East Moses Lake, which means each stake has about half as many children as before.
“Also, soccer started,” Duvall said. “We’re thinking we might change our date next time.”
The purpose of the drive was to teach the children the importance of serving their community, Hirz said.
“We talk about serving one another, loving one another and acting as the Savior would toward one another,” she said.
Children from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show pictured they colored to include in the packages they assembled Saturday for children in foster care.
The stuffed toy drive and care packages were a lesson to the children, who ranged in age from 3 to 11, in community service and generosity.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
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