First, I must apologize for the long delay in posts. I seem to have trouble motivating myself to sit down and articulate my thoughts. This post may explain my absence as this work event kept me very busy during the month of December.
This was the second year of the Nativity Store at Preston Taylor Ministries, and upon starting my job I was informed that I would be this year's coordinator. In August, no problem. As December rolled around I wondered how I was qualified for this position.
The Nativity Store works much like an Angel Tree does, sponsors buy clothing items/gift for children in need (in our case, each child received a shirt, coat, pants, shoes, and a gift.) However, instead of these sponsors wrapping and delivering those gifts we have them return them to our building, unwrapped. It was then my job to check through each bag full of goodies to be sure the sizes were correct and all the items were there. Once that was done, all the items were combined into general categories, such as: boys shirts, girls pants, shoes, toys, etc. This is where it can become a little confusing because it no longer mattered what items were intended for what child. We simply had to begin that way to insure we had all the sizes and items we would need for the store.
I collected all the children's information during the month of October, then I had to master mail merging in Excel to create ornaments to be sent to participating churches. We sponsored any child in any of our programs, as well as younger siblings. This totaled about 200 children between three participating churches, and our weekly volunteers. I spent much of November and December emailing volunteers to sponsor children, or to volunteer during the Nativity Store. I created spreadsheet after spreadsheet in an attempt to maintain some organization in all the facets of this event.
The first weekend in December, we asked that all donations be dropped off at PTM. Then, my wonderful group of YAVs and I, plus my boss, Sarah spent an afternoon rechecking and separating all the donations. We had piles of coats, shoes, pants, and toys as we went through bag after bag. I think we all enjoyed seeing all the exciting items, and adorable clothing people had picked. We then began organizing clothing items by size, and toys by subject (i.e. video games, action figures, dolls, board games, and the list goes on.) Each of these groupings then went into large trash bags which were then neatly (shoved) into our very small supply closet until the store began. We were no longer able to use the storage closet in December because there was no room, and we didn't want the kids to see the gifts!
The weekend before Christmas we got to work decorating our building (crafts made by the students), then cleaning and organizing rooms. We had a boys room, girls room, shoe room, and toy room; then, there were multiple wrapping rooms, a checkout area, entertainment and food. The week before the store Sarah and I were busy calling parents to sign them up for a shopping time.
Parents would show up at their assigned time, and receive a shopping bag, one for each of their children. The bags were labeled with the clothing sizes and requested toy as a reminder to the parents of what to look for. They then made their way through the rooms (a volunteer was stationed in each room to help, and to keep it organized) finding the items they felt that child would enjoy. After each child had a shirt, pants, shoes, coat and toy the parents paid. It was $5 per child up to $20 (many of our parents have more than four children.) Then it was off to wrapping where volunteers were eagerly waiting to help package up the gifts and wrap them in holiday paper with bright ribbons and bows.
We had allotted three days for this event, but were far more efficient than we had planned. We were able to shop all our parents during the first day! We used the second day as bonus shopping, which meant we called our parents again and signed them up to come back the next day. On this day, all items were $1 (each family was allowed a max of 10 items, and there was a room full of free items, as well. This gave parents a chance to shop for children who may not have originally been included, or for cousins, or for themselves!
It was an exhausting weekend, but so rewarding. We were able to give these parents the independence and freedom to shop for their children. The Nativity Store originated from an Angel Tree program after parents expressed feeling shame and grief when a person would deliver the Christmas present a parent could not afford to their home. This new program allows parents to maintain a sense of pride and delight in picking out, wrapping and delivering presents to their children on Christmas Day (even if they are from Santa, instead.)
I loved interacting with the parents and volunteers, seeing the joy in the faces of all who were involved, and feeling a sense of pride in a successful weekend!
