Christmas store of memories
Article and photos by Julie Matuszewski
Santa made a surprise visit to the Christmas store at Journey Church spreading holiday cheer to all visiting shoppers and children.
Community schools, businesses and volunteers collaborated over the holiday season to empower parents and guardians to be the true heroes of Christmas through an affordable and memorable shopping experience.
The festive holiday cheer made it a joyful event for the heroes of Christmas to shop for their children’s Christmas gifts.
The Journey Church Christmas store serves the local community every holiday season with a pop-up holiday shop for families who have found themselves in challenging times. The Christmas store has adopted the motto of “providing families a hand-up rather than a handout.” Parents and guardians desire the dignity that comes along with the act of purchasing their children’s gifts. Shopping the Christmas store provides parents and guardians the opportunity to shop high-end gifts at significantly reduced rates, personally shop themselves in a festive holiday setting and utilize free childcare while shopping.
This year’s store truly inspired Pastor Cory Bragg – serving 55 more shoppers than last year and selling gifts for 261 kids this holiday season. “The impact of the Christmas store gave the children, families and volunteers holiday memories to last a lifetime,” he commented.Christmas store of memories
This year, the Christmas store at Journey Church served the most families to date with 262 registered families, 950 kids shopped for, and 2,300 donated gifts ranging from newborn to 13 and older. Toys and gifts remaining after the sale were donated to the Denver Street School and Children’s Hospital in Highlands Ranch.
