Christmas is about the spirit of giving and kids going to Hillcrest School will get to do that once again this year.
The school is holding their Christmas store this year Dec. 11-12 where students will be able to pick up gifts for special people in their lives and learn the importance of giving.
“We’ve done this for the last eight or nine years and I’d say that every year we have support from the community to provide items for the kids to shop for,” said co-ordinator Sara Pippus. “It’s a nice way for our students to be able to pick out something for someone that they love and appreciate.”
It’s a time of year to be able to teach the kids best because it’s when the lack of giving is most keenly felt.
“We have elves that volunteer from the community to help us out,” Pippus said. “They help us shop and help the kids wrap up what they’re choosing for someone. They then help them be delivered for the kids to take back home.”
In the past each of the classes will have a schedule to come down to the store after they are reminded why they’re shopping and things to be looking for. The goal is for all students to have that opportunity to pick something once or twice over the course of the two days the shop is open.
“We usually keep track of who got to go first last year and things like that,” she said. “It’s usually not a big discussion about kids worrying about what they’re not getting by going after another class. They’re just all very excited about being able to participate. It’s a really nice experience for them.”
Students will often be choosing for their parents or grandparents but aren’t necessarily limited to that.
“It’s a nice experience for them to actually think about what this person would like,” Pippus said. “It teaches them to be thinking of others and think about giving to people and to be thinking about people who aren’t the obvious choice like mom and dad are.”
All of the things that are sent in are either new or gently used items. They can be anything from trinkets to movies to tools. Anything that comes into the store is what’s available to the kids, Pippus said.
“There’s often lots of spa items and things like that for moms and grandmas,” she said. “It just depends on what we’re able to bring in.”
Donations to the store, as well as monetary donations, can be sent to the school right up until the store opens on Dec. 11.
“Anytime anyone wants to bring anything by, everyone on staff knows that the store is being stocked right now,” Pippus said. “As things come in, they go into the store and we have people from the community come in and help us set that up and make that happen.”
