By B.C. Manion
If a camera were panning this room, the close-up view would be eight or nine women sitting around a table, decorated with a cheerful centerpiece.
They would be talking and laughing, and enjoying a brunch.
The scene would be reminiscent of most baby showers — as the women socialize before opening the gifts.
The wide-angled view of the same room, however, would show scores of tables, with more than 160 pregnant women seated around them.
A motivational speaker is at the front of room, reminding the women they have a God who loves them, no matter what’s going on in their personal lives.
The raised stage at the front of the room and the floor below it are jam-packed with big-ticket items: strollers, cribs, dressers, car seats, pack-and-plays, high chairs, bouncies and bath tubs.
Along the room’s walls, there are tables stacked with toys, clothes, baby bottles, formula, diapers and breast-feeding bras, among other things.
Welcome to “Baby Share 2011,” a huge baby shower put on every year by the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) of Victorious Life Church, 6224 Old Pasco Road in Wesley Chapel.
An event program sums up Baby Share’s goal: “You are invited to sit back, relax and enjoy your baby shower,” it tells the expectant mothers. “It is our desire that today will provide you with hope, much-needed baby items and friendships that will last a lifetime.
“We hope that you will forget about any worries or stress and that you feel unconditional love and acceptance as we celebrate you and your new baby,” the program adds.
The event is geared the culmination of months of efforts by church volunteers, who solicit donations to provide the breakfast and to obtain brand-new presents and gently used items that the mothers will need.
The items are donated by local groups and by organizations all over the United States, said Debbie Heger, one of the key organizers.
About three dozen local restaurants donated food or gift certificates for the event, and countless others donated new or used baby items.
In addition to a goody bag filled with new gifts, the women also get to choose three big-ticket items from the front of the room to take home.
They get to do some free shopping, too, choosing items from tables that are stacked with gently used toys or clothes. They also can pick up some free baby formula, bottles and diapers.
The motivational speaker for the event was Jennifer Beckham, a woman who was once a Disney princess and whose life was changed by attending a Billy Graham crusade and accepting Jesus as her savior.
Each woman attending Baby Share 2011 received a number when they arrived.
The numbers were then picked at random to determine who would win brand-new grand prizes and the order in which they would choose the big-ticket items they wanted.
“Everybody gets three large items,” Heger said. “The number system is just to keep order.”
Most of the goody bags the women received included a handmade quilt, a book or CD and new gift items for their baby.
Victorious Life’s Diane Stickland, director of community development, said the event is characteristic of what the church wants to achieve in the community. It seeks, she said, to show God’s love in a practical way.
“A lot of these women don’t have their own personal baby shower,” Heger said. “Maybe this is the only baby shower they get.”
So, the church wants it to be special. Each table has a hostess, who almost becomes a surrogate mother for the day, Heger said.
It takes a large crew of volunteers and many willing givers, but the event has done well every year, Heger said.
“Everyone steps up. We never have any issues,” Heger said, crediting noting that Melisa Dean has spearheaded the efforts for several years.
She was at it again last week, acting as the emcee and ramping up the crowd’s enthusiasm, as she compared the give-away to a television game show.
“It’s like Supermarket Sweep,” she said, as she called out numbers for women to come on up, to choose a big-ticket item.
One woman claimed a stroller, and her way back to her seat she turned to a friend and proclaimed, “Oh, my God, I got chills.”
As other women made their way toward the stage, a patient Melanie Diaz waited. She held No. 1, meaning she was first to arrive that morning.
When her number finally was called, a cheer rose up from her table and the emcee observed: “This person had to arrive here very early to get No. 1.”
Megan Layton, an expectant mom from Plant City, was the first to win one of the grand prizes. She got a brand new stroller.
Layton gave the event high marks: “It seems really awesome, especially for young moms.”
