Volunteers, including students from Holy Redeemer School, helped unpack and sort donated toys at Lyon County Heart to Heart’s distribution center on Monday. The idea for Heart to Heart was sparked on Christmas Eve in 1985, and since then the charity has distributed gifts and holiday meals to hundreds of area families.

MARSHALL — It’s a transformation that happens every year. Over the course of a week, rows of tables set up at Lyon County Heart to Heart’s staging area are covered in mountains of colorful wrapped Christmas presents, each package waiting to go to an area family.

“It’s a magical thing,” Brad Strootman said.

Strootman was one of the Marshall area community members who helped get Heart to Heart started, about 40 years ago. Since 1986, the Christmas charity has distributed hundreds of holiday meal packages and presents to area households. It’s still going strong, organizers said. On Saturday, volunteers will gather at the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University for this year’s distribution.

This week Strootman and Cecil Naatz, another longtime supporter of Heart to Heart, looked back at the organization’s history and impact. The past 40 years went by fast, Naatz said.

“The thing is, it’s such a fulfilling organization to participate in,” he said.

The story of Heart to Heart goes back to Christmas Eve 1985, Strootman said. Brad and his wife Joyce were doing a broadcast on KMHL radio, while station employees had the holiday off.

“Joyce and I did a two-headed Christmas show,” Strootman said. During the show, they received a call from Andy Lee, an employee at Gesme Printing in Marshall. Lee and his coworkers issued a challenge to area residents and businesses to donate money to the Marshall food shelf.

Listeners responded by raising close to $2,000 that day, Strootman said.

“We talked on the way home about just how easy it was, because the message was timely and easy to understand,” he said. Maybe it would be possible to keep that Christmas generosity going.

The next spring, Strootman started reaching out to other community members and organizations to help form what would become the first Heart to Heart campaign. He said the group included managers of local businesses, church pastors, the Marshall Jaycees, the Region 8 welfare office, and representatives of the radio station and the Marshall Independent.

“We said, ‘Can we do this?'” Strootman said. The goal was to provide a Christmas meal for every family, and a gift for every child. “We decided it was in our grasp.”

Naatz was part of the Jaycees when Strootman started talking about forming Heart to Heart.

“The Jaycees had a Toys For Tots organization, and every Christmas we collected new and used toys,” Naatz said. “Then Brad got ahold of me, because he was interested in starting a Christmas charity.”

It worked for the Jaycees to merge their toy drive into the Heart to Heart campaign. Naatz said they were also able to use some of the existing framework from the Toys For Tots program to help with the setup for Heart to Heart.

“We used to rent a U-Haul truck and pick up toys from collection points,” Naatz said. “We had that organization already in place.”

In the first year of Heart to Heart, “We were wondering, how is this going to work?” Naatz said. One big question was how distribution of gifts and food would be handled. Heart to Heart’s current system, where volunteers with shopping carts line up to pick up food packages and gifts for each family, came together early on, Naatz said.

“That is, I think, sort of the miracle of watching Heart to Heart on distribution day,” he said. “It’s really an efficient system.”

The first Heart to Heart campaign generated a lot of buzz, Strootman said.

“The community support was there. It was overwhelming,” he said.

A Heart To Heart history published in the Marshall Independent in 1987 described area businesses, churches, farmers and individual volunteers all coming forward to contribute to food and gift donations, and to wrap and distribute gifts. The effort provided gifts and food to 367 families in more than 25 communities, the history said.

“Heart to Heart has enjoyed such incredible community support since 1986,” Strootman said. The organization has grown. Strootman said Heart to Heart now serves an average of more than 600 families a year.

While there have been some changes over time, the core of Heart to Heart’s mission has stayed the same.

One of the initial challenges of Heart to Heart was identifying families to receive food and gifts, Strootman said. At first, the organization worked with the Region 8 welfare office to help identify families. Over time, volunteers developed a system to register families and keep track of what each household needed.

“The biggest change that I’ve seen over the years has been computerizing everything,” Naatz said. Today, Heart to Heart uses a computer database to keep track of recipients’ information.

Heart to Heart distribution started out at the National Guard Armory in Marshall, and that location served them well up until renovation work started at the facility last year. Last year and this year, distribution shifted over to the conference center at SMSU.

Over the past 40 years, community partnerships have continued to play a key role in fulfilling Heart to Heart’s mission.

“Turkey Valley Farms is an incredible partner. They’ve provided turkeys for years,” Strootman said. He said the Marshall Hy-Vee has also been invaluable in helping provide food for the family meal packages. Heart to Heart tries to provide about a four-day supply of food, with a good nutritional balance, Strootman said.

Meanwhile, businesses like Runnings and Menards, local churches, and groups like area motorcycle clubs have all contributed gifts and monetary donations for Heart to Heart.

Part of the joy of Heart to Heart comes from joining in as a volunteer, Strootman and Naatz said.

“There’s some people that would never miss being a volunteer,” Naatz said

For the past 40 years, Naatz has been part of a group of volunteers who transport donated gifts to the Heart to Heart distribution center. Each year, Naatz, Jim Noyes and DuWayne Johnson pick up a U-Haul and load it up.

“It’s something we look forward to every year, us three guys,” he said. “I enjoy it too much to stop.”

“Truck day is always the first day of the week of distribution,” Naatz said. The three men make stops at businesses like Runnings and Menards, and at local churches, to pick up donations. They also pick up supplies like carts and wrapping paper from storage, and bring it all to the distribution site. “Once we run out of places to go, then we’re done for the day,” Naatz said.

Strootman said he’s been part of a group of volunteers who help carry recipients’ packages out to the car on distribution day.

“We always have stories, because we have the gift of interaction with the recipients,” Strootman said. Those interactions can be emotional, but they can also mean sharing a joke or a smile.

Strootman said it’s also been good to see how far-reaching an impact Heart to Heart can have for people. Over the years, some of the children who once received gifts have come back to volunteer with the group.

“Those are cool things,” Strootman said. “It’s being part of something bigger than yourself.”

Strootman said sharing the story behind Heart to Heart was important in order for the organization to continue and grow. That way, new generations of community members could be introduced to Heart to Heart’s mission.

“We need to keep telling the story,” he said. “It’s a great story.”