Photos by Deb Gau Julie DeCock, Sarah Kicmal and Marcy Heemeyer use teamwork to wrap a large box for Lyon County Heart to Heart on Friday morning. This week, volunteers have been working to prepare gifts and Christmas dinners for families in need

MARSHALL — It takes lots of volunteers to help Lyon County Heart to Heart fulfill its mission every Christmas.

But while most of the work to distribute food and gifts to families happens at the National Guard Armory in Marshall, there are also volunteers who take packages on the road.

“It’s really fun. Our church volunteers to do all the Marshall routes,” Lynn Christianson said.

Christianson was part of a crew of First Lutheran Church members who gathered Friday to sort boxes of holiday meal ingredients for delivery to homebound Marshall residents.

While church members joked about the “chaos” of getting everything sorted, they had a system. First was a stop at the Armory, where they packed the church van — plus a couple of pickup beds — with boxes of food. Back at the church, more volunteers took the items and divided them into delivery routes.

“For some people, it’s become a family tradition that they look forward to each year,” said Tonya Tomasek.

Volunteers would help deliver food and Christmas gifts to about 150 households across Lyon County this year, said Lyon County Heart to Heart vice chair Ben Alcorn. The deliveries aren’t for convenience, but for recipients who are homebound, elderly or disabled, he said.

The majority of the more than 500 Lyon County families who will receive gifts and food through Heart to Heart will pick them up today at the Armory, Alcorn said. The number of families this year is looking similar to pre-pandemic levels, Alcorn said Friday.

“This feels a lot more like it felt in 2019,” he said.

Volunteer groups from both Marshall and Tracy have made delivering food and gifts for Heart to Heart into a Christmas tradition. Tracy residents have been helping with Heart to Heart deliveries since about 2013. Boxes of food picked up in Marshall are taken to Tracy, where local residents gather to sort and distribute them.

“We have a lot of help in the community,” said Eric Squires, who was at the Armory to pick up food boxes on Friday morning.

The helpers include groups from the Tracy Lions and Minnwest Bank, as well as community members, he said.

On Friday morning, volunteers helped Squires and Greg Carlson stuff a van and a pickup with food for Heart to Heart recipients in Tracy.

“We know that two full vehicles is what it takes,” Squires said.

There was a moment where it wasn’t quite certain if the van’s side door would close with all the boxes inside — but it latched.

At First Lutheran, organizers spend the week leading up to Heart to Heart distribution figuring out routes for deliveries needed in Marshall, Tomasek said. After volunteers get all the food and gifts picked up and sorted, it’s often families with children who make the deliveries. Tomasek said some families like to keep the same routes year after year.

“It’s a very good opportunity for kids to see their parents volunteer,” Christianson said. “I think that’s how you learn.”

Volunteering for Heart to Heart was not only helping a good cause, but it was a good experience, volunteers said.

“I love it. It’s one of the highlights that our church does each year,” Tomasek said. “I can’t imagine not doing it.”