c. 1999 Religion News Service

CAMARILLO, Calif. _ No one had room for Mary and Joseph. Not one Mary and Joseph, but about 300.

Many of those multiple figures of Jesus’ earthly parents belonged to the nativity sets of three southern California collectors, husband and wife Huw and Nora Howells and their friend Judy Crenshaw. Huw Howells had dreamed of using the scenes of the shelterless Christmas family to help modern-day people with no place to stay.

His dream became reality in 1993 with the birth of”No Room at the Inn,”a yearly program that displays nativity sets in local churches, charges a modest admission, then donates the proceeds to agencies working with the homeless.

The program was hosted this year by Trinity Presbyterian Church in Camarillo, Calif., near Los Angeles, in early December. Crenshaw reported that the 702 nativity sets on display attracted 1,020 visitors. The admission fees, along with the earnings from a kick-off gala and a silent auction of donated goods, earned the homeless $10,000.

In its previous six years,”No Room at the Inn”donated $37,000 to make room for people from the street. Over the years the exhibit has doubled in size, including many others besides those of the first three collectors.

Back in 1993 when Howells’ wife Nora and friend Crenshaw tried to get the program going, no one would let them in.”I just couldn’t find a place that would house us,”Crenshaw said.

Though the program now uses churches, the first couple of years the storefront of a junior chamber of commerce was home to the nativities.

Now, housed year to year in different churches,”No Room at the Inn”spreads its proceeds among 16 social service agencies.”God bless ’em,”said Karen Ingram, vice president of Lutheran Social Services of Southern California, grateful for the January check from the organization. The money comes at a time of year when”most people have shot their wad”for charitable giving, she said, because of holiday spending.

The Lutheran agency uses the yearly $500 check to buy bus tokens, gasoline, tools and prescriptions for people needing emergency assistance. Ingram said that”No Room”funds also buy blankets and sleeping mats for the homeless.

Mary Ann Decaen, Ventura County community services program coordinator for Catholic Charities, said that her agency receives several hundred dollars each year from”No Room.”Her program aids victims in short-term financial crisis by offering”the very basic things that people need just to navigate in a complex world,”she said.”I’d love to see it replicated in many different communities,”Decaen said of the roving exhibit.

When Huw Howells died of colon cancer in 1993, his wife Nora was moved to give life to the project that her husband and her friend and fellow collector Crenshaw had always talked about: using their nativities for others’ good.

Crenshaw and Nora Howells assembled a group of friends to work on the project.”Once we got this committee together, things started falling into place,”Nora Howells said.

One of the many ways the committee helps is by assigning members to sleep over with the display to safeguard it. The members who slept at the church this year had the rare opportunity”to baby-sit 700 Jesuses,”quipped Crenshaw.

Added Nora Howells:”I do pray every night during the display that we don’t have an earthquake.” The style and economic value of the nativities and related Christmas art at the Camarillo show varied widely.

Among the most valuable pieces were two Russian icons dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries. Antique collector Roy Thorsen, the owner, estimated their worth at”well over a $1,000 each,”hesitant to pin down the current market value.

Positioned in the glow of a crystal lamp, the icon from the 18th century revealed a Madonna and Child. Pointing gently upward toward the child in her arms, Mary’s silver-inlaid hands gleamed in the lamplight, providing a soft visual echo of the surrounding silver frame.

The companion 19th-century image placed haloed adorers of the infant Jesus in front of a tall, open arch. The star visible through the arch pierced the blue hue of the Bethlehem night like a rocket stopped in mid-flight.

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Among the most unique pieces was a nativity owned by”No Room”committee member Tina Shepherd, which she describes as”handcrafted by God.” Shepherd’s nativity consisted of pieces of driftwood collected during a four-day beach holiday at a friend’s cabin at northern California’s Big Lagoon. All 15 pieces remained untouched by the carver’s hand.”It’s entirely in its natural state,”Shepherd said. The smooth, round figure representing the Christ child lay convincingly nestled in its driftwood manger.

Despite its nil commercial value, the driftwood nativity impressed visitors.”I just think it’s truly amazing,”said Bea Braun of Camarillo,”if you think about how she saw these pieces, and put them together.” Shepherd reported that one woman,”tears running down her face,”told her the display had”just touched my heart.” Added Shepherd,”When she told me that, it was a gift to me.”AMB END PARKS