EVERETT — Stephanie Todd wants her 4-year-old daughter to have a happy Christmas.
The Lynnwood resident is expecting her second child and knows she won’t have much time to shop for Christmas gifts before her baby comes. So, on Thursday, Todd waited in a line outside the Everett Boys and Girls Club for a goldenrod-colored ticket that secured a time to shop at Christmas House on Friday morning. The nonprofit organization gives gifts to children of low-income families.
A wish her daughter made earlier this year for a little sister will be coming true soon, Todd said. She was looking for a scooter to fulfill another wish.
Todd found what she was looking for Friday morning while shopping through toys and clothes that covered tables and part of the floor of the club’s gymnasium. She also picked out several other toys, a blanket and a new coat for her daughter.
“You can’t complain at all,” Todd said. “We definitely appreciate as much help as possible.”
Christmas House opened for its 31st season of giving Christmas gifts to children Friday. The store is scheduled to be open 14 days through Dec. 20. About 60 volunteers each day are expected to help families shop for a minimum of 10,000 children, said Pam Sorenson, a volunteer director for the nonprofit organization. The all-volunteer organization spends 99 cents of every dollar on gifts for children in Snohomish County, Sorenson said.
About 195 people are expected to shop most days, but that number will probably increase to 400 people on Saturdays, when the store is open longer, she added.
“A lot of our families are working families,” Sorenson said. “They can barely make the rent, barely buy food and then Christmas comes and they just can’t do it. We want every little child to start the year out knowing somebody is thinking about them.”
Parents who qualify for assistance from Christmas House can choose five or six gifts for each of their children and one family gift. Children each receive a stocking stuffer, a small and a large gift, a new hat, gloves or scarf, and either new socks, underwear, or a coat.
Sisters April Guzman and Tracey Bolar from Everett waited in line Thursday night so they could get a time that would allow them to shop for gifts Friday before their children came home from school.
“I told my kids that we were coming down here to get on Santa’s sleigh and that we were going to go to the North Pole,” Bolar said.
They met Lake Stevens resident Kym Day in the line and spent time sharing stories about their families. Day said she was in a car accident in September and her family is currently without a working vehicle.
“The help this year is really going to be a nice thing,” she said.
Melanie Brisbin has shopped for her three children before at Christmas House but decided to volunteer for the first time this season. She plans to make a return visit later this month to do her shopping.
“I can’t think of a better way to spend my day,” she said. “There always seems to be great stuff whenever you come. Every time I’ve just been blown away by what they get for families.”
Volunteering at Christmas House is a chance to do something to help others, said volunteer Natascha Roehl of Arlington. She and her family were part of a group that last Saturday helped move boxes of donations, collected throughout the year, out of storage and into the gymnasium.
“We were in a situation a couple of years ago where we needed help,” she said. “Now we’re more fortunate and I want to do what I can to give back.”
A steady stream of people at Christmas House on Friday morning kept volunteer Donald Hill busy as he helped people have gifts bagged and taken to their cars.
Hill is volunteering at Christmas House for his third year. A successful opening day started what is sure to be another good holiday season at Christmas House, the Everett resident said.
“It gives me a smile every year,” Hill said. “I like seeing everyone so happy.”
You can help
Christmas House is looking for a donation of 1,000 square feet or more of dry, secure storage space to use from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2012. To learn more about volunteering with or donating to the nonprofit organization, call 425-338-2273 or go to www.christmas-house.org.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
