When a fundraiser raises spirits

Andover - Spaghetti dinners, silent auctions, car washes. Fund raisers come in many varieties. The Andover United Methodist Church came up with a fund raiser that does more than raise money, however, it de-stresses the holidays. “It’s a Wrap,” is generally called out at the end of filming, but for Lee Krueger, it was a call to action before the holiday crazies set in. At a church meeting, she suggested providing gift wrapping services for a small fee as a way to take some of the pressure off for the holidays. “I was taught how to wrap by a pro. I’ve wrapped thousands of gifts since age 11, that’s way my corners are so good,” she laughed at the “It’s a Wrap” day at church. The church provided wrapping paper, ribbon and bows and the services of some 10 “worker bees” in Krueger’s term, to wrap gifts for anyone who bought them in. They charged on a sliding scale, depending on how elaborate the person wanted the wrapping. “Sort of like ‘Build-a-Bear” but with packages,” Krueger said. “It’s a Wrap” mushroomed from just wrapping gifts to helping with shopping, Pastor Dan Gepford said. “We had this meeting and people just kept making suggetions.” One table was laden with baked goods, another with gift items and poinsettias were arranged between the tables. Betty Mitchell explained, “We used to do a soup and bake sale, but our range stopped working; we just got a working range again, so didn’t have time to do the soup. People keep asking for the soup, though.” Just as she finished speaking, a woman walked in and asked about the soup. Among the gift items were Lucinda pins, Gepford said. He explained a woman who had been homeless started making pins in the shape of houses to aid homeless shelters, then she branched out into other shapes, but sells them only to benefit non-profits, mostly churches Krueger noted the funds raised by “It’s a Wrap” are going to programs for the church and its pre-school, “all together.” Gepford commented on how busy and active the church is. “We have about 90 members,” he said. “With many small churches, you find the congregation is heavily older people, but this church has members of all ages.”