Christmas in Wentzville: Charity

Welcome to Christmas in Wentzville, a daily column that will give you five ideas of ways to shop in for those you love this holiday season. Each day Patch will have ideas for gifts based on a theme—sports lover, outdoorsman, the reader or last-minute gifts.

To kick things off, we thought we would look at worthy causes to give to this holiday season. What better gift to give the person that has everything than the gift of charity? Donate to a worthy cause in a friend or loved one's name.

Here are five non-profit organizations that could benefit from your gift this year.

1. is a non-profit pro-life crisis pregnancy center. It serves women and their babies from five surrounding counties. Everything it offers to the women is completely free, so Birthright relies on the community for supplies and financing. Birthright is selling pro-life Christmas cards. A donation can also be made in honor of a friend or loved one and Birthright will send a Christmas card to them on your behalf. A list of needs are listed at the bottom of this story.
2. is a child advocacy center that aims to help the young victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse and those that witness violence. The Center is always seeking monetary donations to fund its work. Donors can purchase a ceremic tile for the Center's wall by calling Ellen Teller at 636-332-0899.
3. The Friends of the Wentzville Parks is an organization dedicated to bringing about a world class parks and recreations department. The group raises both awareness and money for the city parks.
4. First Step Back Home is Christian ministry serving the critical, chronic, temporary, transient and working homeless in Wentzville. Donors can make monetary donations or prepare food or toiletry survival boxes for the homeless.
5. has provided award-winning equestrian therapy programs for people with disabilities in the area since 1975. More than two-thirds of TH operating revenue comes from contributions, gifts, grants and sponsored events. TH is looking for people to support the 175 riders that use the facility for therapy each year.

Birthright's Needs

• Large plastic laundry baskets
• Pacifiers
• Plastic baby bottles (all sizes),
• Baby wipes, baby wipes and more baby wipes
• Baby wash
• Cloth diapers
• Baby bath towels and washcloths
• Baby powder
• Burp cloths
• Diaper rash cream
• Baby socks (sizes 0-6 months)
• Dreft laundry detergent
• Diapers — sizes newborn, one, three and four
• Teething toys
• Newborn clothing.