GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On Wednesday night, 13 ON YOUR SIDE shot a "One Good Thing" story at St. Alphonsus Parish where families were buying gifts for their families that they would not otherwise be able to afford. The mood inside was gleeful.
But later in the evening we received a message from the church's Social Concerns director, Michelle Hatfield. She told us that for the first time ever, the Northeast Christmas Store had run out of merchandise. And with another Christmas Store scheduled for Saturday, Hatfield says the organization is "desperately in need of donations."
"The Northeast Christmas store was set up 11 years ago, and it's designed to help lower-income families be able to have a dignified shopping experience by providing a hand up rather than a handout," Hatfield told us earlier in the evening.
"It gives those families the opportunity to purchase toys at only 10% of the retail value, and they get a certain dollar amount to spend based on the number of children in their household."
The store, which is only open to registered guests, is able to offer such a deep discount because of community support.
"The money that we get from our shoppers is used to purchase more toys for the next shopping day. So everything is recycled back into this program, but that's never enough to cover all of the toys that we need to provide for the many families we are serving. So we rely heavily upon donations. People have been either giving money or donating toys. I have different churches that partner with us," Hatfield said.
Michelle Hassen first started coming to the Christmas Store as a single mother of six. Now she has 12 grandchildren and she still comes to the store to buy them their Christmas gifts. She says this store has meant "everything" to her family.
"I would never be able to get what I got today if it wasn't for this Santa Claus shop, because even looking at this stuff is so expensive, but here it doesn't break my my wallet," she said.
If you would like to donate to the effort, you can stop by St. Alphonsus during pantry hours, Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can also email Hatfield at mhatfield@stalphonsusgr.org.
Hatfield says she is working with the families who were turned away on Wednesday night to reschedule them so they can come shop when toys have been replenished.
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