Festival Offers Fun--and Praise--for Whole Families

Danny Robles does not usually sit in a highchair to eat applesauce. But he squeezed into a wooden baby seat at Calvary Chapel-Costa Mesa’s Thank the Lord for Babies Festival to play a game in which blindfolded youngsters tried to shove food into their parents’ mouths.

Robles admitted that the game, called “Feed Daddy,” was a little embarrassing, but the way he sees it, spending time with children is important, even if it means getting smeared with applesauce.

“You can’t feed daddy if there’s no daddy here,” said Robles, 32, a father of four. “And that’s what’s happening to a lot of families today. There’s no daddies.”

Robles and more than 2,000 revelers gathered Saturday at Calvary’s gymnasium on Fairview Road to celebrate childhood and parenthood in a carnival-like setting.

Parents raced strollers, danced and sang, prayed and exchanged free clothing, diapers and toys, while youngsters competed in a crawling contest, skipped rope and munched on hot dogs and beans.

The festival was started three years ago by Simon Cassar, a baby supply store owner who lives in Orange, as a way of promoting family values and discouraging abortion. He wants parents to view children as a blessing, not a burden.

Other churches in Orange County now host similar events on different days with Cassar’s help. He hopes to establish a uniform date soon.

“We are in the process of trying to get the churches together and launch a national babies day,” he said.

Many who came to Saturday’s event admitted that the main attraction was the free supplies.

“A lot of these people don’t go to church necessarily, but they need practical help, and that’s what being Christian is all about,” said Gary Ray, who led a baby-blessing ceremony.

Dorothy Leseth, 38, of Santa Ana brought some outgrown infant clothing and exchanged it for a few new items for her son, Robert, 9 months old. She and her husband are struggling financially, she said, and the clothing will help them get by. And the festival lifted her spirits.

“This church is wonderful because they really encourage you to love your husband and to love your family and make it a priority,” she said.

If the event needed a poster family, Robert and Susan Hasson, both 37, fit the bill. The Westminster couple’s 8-month-old quadruplets were born on Mother’s Day last year.

The Hassons picked up toys, clothing and baby wipes while pushing around two double strollers. They have no qualms about accepting freebies. Raising four children is expensive.

“You learn with multiples to take anything you can get,” Susan Hasson said.