Volunteers at the Jackson County Christmas Store, from left, Steve Baxley, Ellen Hotaling, Elaine White, Wanda Kidd and Joan MacNeill unpack donations of toys, which helped brighten the holday for more than 700 area children. Organizers Kidd and White termed this year's response "wonderful."
A 15-year-old volunteer effort has brightened Christmas for more local children than ever this year. With all gifts distributed as of Friday ( Dec. 20), the Jackson County Christmas Store played a part in providing holiday smiles for some 723 children. "The response was wonderful this year," agreed organizers Wanda Kidd and Elaine White. In the store's first season, 23 children were served. It cost $50 to sponsor a child then, a figure that has not changed in 15 years. "That tells you about Elaine's shopping abilities," said Kidd. "Not one penny of the $50 goes for anything other than gifts for children. All workers are volunteers and all expenses are met in other ways." One way to contribute to the Christmas Store is to take a card listing a particular child's wishes, shop for those items and return the purchases to the Christmas Store, White said. This year, presents for about 125 children were purchased that way. Organizers and volunteers shopped for the remaining 600 or so and matched the children's requests to toys and clothing on hand. Major Christmas Store sponsors this year were the Sylva Merchants Association, WRGC Radio, Western Carolina University and the Rotary Club, said Kidd. "We also had 125 people who volunteered at the Christmas Store and hundreds more who contributed money," she said. While the idea of helping people during the holiday season is not original, the Christmas Store offers assistance by enabling parents to provide presents for their children and making every effort to find the items on each child's wish list. "We want parents to have the opportunity to select and provide Christmas gifts for their children, and for each child to have a new outfit to wear to school after the holidays," Kidd said. Eligible parents receive a numbered invitation to shop at the store. At the appointed time, parents present that number (no names are used) and are allowed to select gifts for their children. After shopping, parents are given a bag of candy for each child and wrapping paper to wrap the presents. "The idea was to see that every child in Jackson County would be remembered at Christmas," she said. "We try to make sure nobody gets left out." Each child receives $30 worth of new toys and $20 worth of clothing. "Mountain folks are proud," said Kidd, who stressed the point that the Christmas Store is not a handout. Each parent is "charged" $3 to participate, she said. "The miracle of that $3 is that it goes a long way," Kidd said. "And as soon as the after-Christmas sales start, Elaine starts buying for next year's store." |