This past Saturday, the 1st Annual Santa’s Gift Shop raised $1879.45 for Riverview Pro Kids, as the result of a tremendous turn-out and incredible community support.
After years of hosting a Santa Mart for kids, to purchase Christmas gifts from a selection of donated items, the YMCA had to cancel their event due to lack of donations. They received less than half as much stuff as they had in previous years and roughly half of what they did receive wasn’t in adequate condition to include in the sale. When it was cancelled, my children were very disappointed, as this would have been our 3rd year attending their event. So, with simply 9 days to make a miracle happen, I took it upon myself to plan Santa’s Gift Shop.
The support I received from the community was above and
beyond anything I could have hoped for. Every single business I approached,
with one exception, was extremely supportive and excited to be involved. Most
things that I gathered from businesses became part of the silent auction and
raffle, which only came into fruition after the donations far exceeded my
hopes.
Then came the donations from individuals. On Thursday and
Friday of last week, we accepted donations at the Chocolate River Station.
Thursday, at 1pm, we opened the doors and had a steady stream of people stop in
for 2 hours straight. The donations ranged from new to gently used and included
things like mugs, ornaments, jewelry, gift baskets, toys and so much more. People even donated entire collections of
things like porcelain dolls, etc. On Friday, we had a similar turnout over a 2
hour period. Literally thousands of items were donated and less than one
garbage bag of things were un-sellable. It took a team of 12 people roughly 11 hours
to sort through all of the amazing items.
With every item donated, came words of encouragement and
also stories of how certain items had come into these people’s lives. One woman
hand written a special note, explaining the story of a hand-woven tray that she
and her husband had purchased in Africa years ago during their travels. It was
all so touching.
Saturday morning at 7am, many of the volunteers arrived to
help with the set up and by 9:30am, there was a full line-up of eager children
and their parents waiting to come in and take part in the event. Once inside,
the kids were each assigned a personal shopper to help choose their gifts and
the parents were ushered over to the waiting area with music, refreshments and
a small shopping area designated just for them. Once the kids selected their
gifts, they headed over to gift wrap. The smiles on their faces, the sense of
accomplishment and the fact that they had very important secrets to keep, made
all the hard work worthwhile. There wasn’t an unhappy face in the crowd. The
best part is still to come-the look on their faces when their families open
their special gifts Christmas morning.
I have every intention on holding the 2nd Annual
Santa’s Gift Shop next year in Riverview. I’ve already had people approach me
who would like to be a part of such a worthy event and cause. Thank you to
every single person and every business in the community that helped make
Santa’s Gift Shop such a wonderful success, both for the children and for
Riverview Pro Kids. We were also able to contribute many excellent items to the
Salvation Army.
Stay tuned for next year and Happy Holidays!
