Holiday Help: Christmas Bureau’s Holiday Shop helps local struggling families

Thanks to an outpouring of donations and volunteer hours, the Johnson County Christmas Bureau will help thousands of low-income families celebrate the holidays.

The bureau’s 32nd annual Holiday Shop opened Dec. 4 and runs through Dec. 12 at the vacant Circuit City store, 6030 Eby St., in Merriam Village.

More than 12,000 individuals, or 3,300 families, will receive assistance from the Christmas Bureau, which is a record number of clients, president Alice Algie said.

“The numbers are staggering. That’s the highest we’ve had,” Algie, Prairie Village, said. “We try our best to help everyone. We’re open for about eight days and we expect to move about 40 people per hour.”

Clients are referred to the bureau by Social and Rehabilitation Services and Catholic Charities, and those identified by county agencies, and area school districts and churches.

“It could be your next door neighbor, you just don’t know it,” Algie said. “We had to shut down applications to the shop this year and turned away about 500 people. We do have other agencies we can refer them to that can help them.”

Clients have appointed shopping times and volunteers assist each shopper through the store to find food, gifts and coats for their family members.

In addition to the Christmas Bureau’s 60 or so regular volunteers, the organization is helped by more than 3,000 volunteers who sort donations and help set up, run and take down the shop. For the first time this year, volunteers could sign up online, which proved to be a success, Algie said.

“We can’t have enough people to come in and give us a hand,” she said.

Bill Mechler, Lenexa, volunteers in the bureau’s grocery department.

“I’m retired from the grocery business and I like working with the food,” he said. “I saw this as an opportunity to help people.”

Board member Martha Malsbary, Overland Park, began volunteering with the bureau 10 years ago.

“I believe in what they’re doing,” she said. “I like that it’s an all-volunteer organization.”

Malsbary said she is surprised by the amount of donations this year.

“It’s been steady, probably up in some areas,” she said. “We did struggle with the food. We receive some donations from Harvesters but we didn’t get as much this year. Kimberly-Clark gave us paper products and personal care items that we give away to clients. We got a lot of coats this year, many are used but a lot of them are new.”

Malsbary said the bureau had fewer donations of toys and gifts for babies and teens. Algie said the bureau is always in need of gift cards and items for the Hats Underwear Gloves and Socks, or HUGS, department.

“We don’t have a huge budget, but we do allocate more for the HUGS area. It’s in desperate need, especially for men’s gloves,” Algie said. “We have clothing for infants and up to age 6 and then 7 to 12, but no adult clothing anymore. We noticed that moms want clothes for their kids when they come here, not themselves. We can always use dental products – toothbrushes seem to be in great demand. Everything is brand new, except for some of the coats.”

While monetary donations are accepted year-round, the bureau will accept donations of new items through Dec. 10.

More than three decades ago, American Association of University Women members established the bureau – a nonprofit, nondenominational, volunteer organization – as a community service project that served as a clearing house for those wishing to adopt a family during the holidays.

The shop is funded prim-arily through donations from individuals, organizations and businesses.

“People were very generous this year,” Algie said. “We came across a family foundation called CPS in Overland Park. They came to us and said, ‘We want to help. Tell us what we can offer you.’ I asked for $10,000 and they came through with $13,000.”

The bureau also received $10,000 from Johnson County Young Matrons, as well as donations from the United Way, Wal-Mart and individuals.

“We were bombarded with personal donations and got lots of good money. People walk in off of the street and bring in checks on their own, but we can always use more,” Algie said. “It has been a struggle, but all nonprofits are struggling. We do seem to be blessed for some reason.”

One blessing, Aglie said, was finding this year’s Holiday Shop location. Previous shops have been held in Overland Park and Olathe. The shop needs 25,000 to 32,000 square feet and has specific requirements such as dock accessibility, plentiful parking, utilities and interstate accessibility.

“So many of our volunteers are getting older and live in this area and don’t want to drive all way out to Olathe,” Algie said. “I saw the sign for this space and thought this would be very convenient for everybody. We couldn’t be happier. The volunteers have been amazed with how this compares to our other locations. And we’re lucky to have a large area next door for storage.”

Algie said the “spirit of giving” makes the Christmas Bureau successful year after year.

“In spite of what everybody thinks – that Johnson County is the most affluent county in the state – it isn’t true,” she said. “But those of us who have, want to help those who don’t have as much. You feel at the end of the day a sense of confidence that you were able to help some family be able to have a nice Christmas.”

For more information about the Johnson County Christmas Bureau, visit www.jccb.org or call 341-4342.

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (1)

Write comment