By Kim Hyatt

Owatonna People’s Press

OWATONNA — On Saturday morning, 10-year-old Kaden Meixner from Medford had 80 bucks in his pocket and a long shopping list in hand as he went with his grandma to the 25th annual Shop with Santa.

“He shopped for two hours,” said Meixner’s Grandmother Nancy as they were hauling 17 presents out to the car in the St. John parking lot. They had to recruit 4-H volunteer Hunter Mundt to the help carry all the gifts that Meixner said he’s so excited for his family to open on Christmas.

About 250 kids came to the annual 4-H fundraiser to buy gifts to give this holiday season, but the event is more than a fundraiser. It’s also a community service project for 4-H’ers as the kids make all the gifts—this year 2,415 handmade items were up for sale—and volunteer to help the kids 6th grade and younger with shopping and wrapping.

“It’s kind of a tradition that I always ask the first person in line what time they got here. This year that person got here at 3:30 in the morning,” said Sandy Jirele, chair of the Shop with Santa committee.

“There’s a million things going on in this town today. So they will come and get a bag so if you got something going on, as soon as you can come back we’ll put you in.”

The rules to Shop with Santa are pretty straightforward: get a numbered bag, fill out a gift idea sheet and place money in an envelope. Then the kids— like their parents at the DMV—wait anxiously for their number to be called where a Santa Helper assists them with shopping and staying on budget.

Bottom line is no parents are allowed, and to reassure surprise come Christmas day, the volunteers wrap the gifts after they are purchased so all that’s left for kids to do is stick them under the tree.

Parents are invited to sit in the lobby at St. John sipping juice and watching holiday movies while the kids do the shopping.

“The just love coming to Shop with Santa because they get to shop without mom or dad,” said Sarah Klemp, parent of two and 4-H volunteer. “So on Christmas morning when we open presents, they know what they got you, but nobody else does. They just love that experience.”

This year, longtime 4-H’ers Kalyn Naatz, junior at Blooming Prairie, and Cole Ignaszewski, junior at NRHEG, were dubbed Santa and Mrs. Clause so they were in charge of greeting each kid after their number was called and collecting data.

“For the last couple years it’s been pretty consistent. For the most part we usually get 250 every year,” Ignaszewski said. “I [shopped] when I was little, often times I was here helping and then I would go shop. I’ve had a lot of fun memories here.”

The juniors have been in 4-H since they were 5 years old in Cloverbuds and now both show livestock.

“It’s really fun. I don’t know what I would do without 4-H,” Naatz said.

By 11 a.m. they said that 135 kids had made their way through to shop and they anticipated reaching 200 to 250 by noon when the fundraiser is over.

There were 11 4-H clubs throughout Steele County that volunteered at this year’s Shop with Santa, including the Ellendale Hustlers, the Lemond Snappy Boosters and the Straight River Stars.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our 4-H’ers because it gives them a chance to work with younger kids, they also have to know a little bit of math and making sure the little shoppers don’t overspend,”Jirele said. “It’s a community service event.”