By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Being home for Christmas is an ageless desire, one that will be fulfilled countless times tomorrow as family members gather from near and far to celebrate the holiday together.

There will be food and treats, gift exchanges, hugs, fireside chats and game-playing. For many, it will be a day when the outside world and its problems remain beyond the shield of love that a family can provide.

But for some, the Christmas holiday and the weeks leading to it can be a painful reminder of what is missing in their lives. And nowhere is that pain more evident than among children who have no family with whom to spend the holiday.

That image is what prompted Celeste and Ed Wilhelm, of O'Hara, to open their home for the past six years to groups of children from the Auberle Home in McKeesport who have no place to go for the holiday. The children have been separated from their families because of abuse, neglect or the death of their parents. Auberle is home to 105 youths ages 8-18 who are sent there by the courts, either because of family problems or brushes with the law.

"Everyone should have a place to go for the holidays," said Celeste Wilhelm, who is among 45 Auberle volunteers who pitch in during the holiday season to fill the gaps in the lives of the center's resident children.

The volunteers vary in age, but because the majority are retired, they are referred to as volunteer grandmas and grandpas by the children, said Denise Flannigan, coordinator of volunteer services at Auberle.

That means Celeste Wilhelm is known as "Grandma Celeste," even though she is in her 30s and the mother of four children age 6, 4, 2 and three months.

While the other volunteers hold holiday parties and activities at the Auberle Home and collect hundreds of gifts to sponsor a Santa workshop there, the Wilhelms are the only volunteers at this time who take groups of homeless children into their home for holidays.

Tomorrow, the Wilhelms expect to host eight children age 8-12, similar to the group they invited for Thanksgiving dinner.

There will be gift-giving and a scrumptious homemade meal, games to be played along with the Wilhelm's four children and romping to take place in the back yard with the family's two Pyrenees dogs, Gus and Sampson.

In past years, the Wilhelms have hosted as many as 12 Auberle children in their home for Christmas. "I'd rather have a gang here than have someone left behind," Celeste Wilhelm said.

In reality, some are left behind. For policy reasons, Auberle officials don't send residents from the 13- to 18-year-old group along on the same activities as the younger children. And, currently, there is no one who offers his or her home to the handful of older residents who have nowhere to go on holidays.

"To me, that is heartbreaking," Celeste Wilhelm said. "I think people just don't know that this need is out there."

Those residents who do spend Christmas Day at the Auberle Home will get a visit from Pittsburgh Diocese's Bishop Donald W. Wuerl, who will conduct a 10 a.m. Mass and then have brunch with the children. Gifts will be distributed afterward.

Celeste Wilhelm said she never gave much thought to children who spent holidays alone until her company, W&K Steel, hosted an Auberle resident as an intern six years ago. "He touched me so much because he so desperately wanted to be with his family."

The intern graduated from the Auberle program that spring and left her firm. But Celeste Wilhelm said she couldn't get her mind off of him and the other children at the home. As Thanksgiving approached that year, she called the home and asked if anyone needed a place to go for the holiday.

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas since then, the Wilhelms have opened their home to a group of Auberle children. Some have been back several times. "They remember what we ate the last time and they ask, 'Are you going to make your sweet potatoes again?' "

For Auberle resident Matt, 12, this year's Thanksgiving visit to the Wilhelms' home was extra special. Because his birthday was the next day, the Wilhelms held a party for him.

"It was really nice. We ate Thanksgiving dinner, then she had a birthday cake and a bunch of presents for me," Matt said.

Vince Macellaro, program manager for Auberle's juvenile unit who has worked there 15 years, said he had rarely seen such kindness as that displayed by the Wilhelms.

"The kids really feel comfortable there. She makes everyone feel at home. They don't even have to take their shoes off at the door,'' said Macellaro, who has gone along on visits to the Wilhelm home.

Macellaro said all of the Auberle Home volunteers played special roles in the lives of the children who live there, particularly those who show up week after week to organize activities and spend time with the children.

Many of those volunteers helped organize and staff a Santa Workshop for the kids two weeks ago in the large lobby area of the home on Hartman Street. This year's workshop was the fourth one organized by the volunteers. It included rows and rows of tables holding clothing, toys, housewares and jewelry.

Christmas carols were playing in the background and cookies and punch were served by volunteers wearing Santa hats and holiday sweaters. Each of the children was matched with a volunteer to help them shop for the people on their Christmas gift list.

For some, the list included parents and siblings. Tim, 13, was able to get a beautiful porcelain doll for his twin sister, a watch for his mother and a scented candle for an older sister.

"That's good," Tim said after agonizing over his gift decisions and heading off to the gift wrap station, where other volunteers were helping the children wrap and label their gifts.

Although Tim spent a good deal of time deciding what to get each family member, there were others who had no family members to buy gifts for. The volunteers helped those children pick out gifts for staff members and volunteers with whom they interact with on a regular basis.

Auberle resident, Chris, 12, was so excited about the gifts he bought for volunteers who visit him regularly that he wanted to give them as soon as they were wrapped. But he was convinced by staff members that it would be more exciting to wait until closer to Christmas.

"It's sad to think that, for some of these kids, we are the only ones in their lives," said Erich Berger, of Baldwin Borough, who, along with his wife, Cletus, volunteers at Auberle. The Bergers visit on Tuesday nights to play bingo with the residents.

Some Tuesdays, Berger, with funds from the Baldwin Borough Kiwanis Club and his own pocket, takes groups of Auberle residents, accompanied by staff members, on shopping trips to Wal-Mart, where they are allowed to choose an item for themselves.

Volunteer Grandma Bea Longo, of McKeesport, is an assistant county solicitor who represents the county's Children Youth & Families agency, which sometimes terminates parents' rights to their children and places the children in institutions such as the Auberle Home.

Volunteering there gives Longo a chance to connect with the children in a more positive capacity. Longo, who worked at the Santa Workshop, also visits the home on Thursday nights, which is the night that family members are allowed to visit the children staying at the home.

Longo visits with those who have no family to visit them. "We do puzzles and card games and eat snacks and read."

Volunteer Grandma Peggy Joyce, who was heavily involved in planning and working the Santa Shop, said that when she started to volunteer at Auberle, the children asked her why she continued to come back each week when she wasn't paid to do so.

"I told them I was coming back just to see them and they didn't believe it," said Joyce, of North Versailles. "I really believe these kids need consistency. They need to get to know us and know that we will be coming back no matter what."