Kelly Stewart

Staff Writer

Video by Alex Smith

Hundreds of less-fortunate parents across south Dallas will have presents for their children thanks to the Christmas Store, a program introduced by a local church.

Each year, Valley Ranch Baptist Church opens their doors to impoverished families in Dallas and lets parents come and pick out gifts for their children – free of charge.

“We have a wonderful partnership with our sister church in south Dallas and we help serve 1,200 people from their church in partnership with them and they do ministry with us throughout the year,” Amy Wilkins said. “It just really helps provide a way that people can have gifts at Christmas so they can put their income toward bills and rent and any other expenses that are going to come every month regardless. And in the last few years, we’ve been able to open that up to our local community and serve 100 children.”

The ‘sister church’ of Valley Ranch is Cornerstone Baptist Church. Most of the clients of the Christmas Store are handpicked from the congregation of Cornerstone or the neighborhood around the church.

The clients arrive by the busload to Valley Ranch and are taken inside, where a personal shopping assistant called a GPS guides them through the rooms filled with toys to pick the gifts out. From there, the gifts are wrapped by volunteers and the clients are able to sit down in the café area and eat, or go into the sanctuary where they can pray.

Katie Purdue, a CHS senior, was volunteering at the Christmas Store.

“I’ve volunteered for this for several years now, [since] I go to this church,” Purdue said. “It has just been an amazing opportunity to serve these people who are really in need. …It’s just an amazing feeling to give to people who have so much less than us and you can tell by their faces, they’re just so happy to receive anything.”

Hundreds of volunteers work at the Christmas Store every year, including doing jobs such as wrapping gifts, preparing food in the café, carrying bags for the clients and showing the clients gifts for them to choose from. Preparation for the store needs just as many people.

“A lot of work [goes] into the Christmas Store every year. Valley Ranch literally starts the day after the Christmas Store, helping us prepare for the next year,” Reverend Chris Simmons, head pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church said. “Teams work all year long, gathering supplies, gathering  toys and doing an auction to help raise [money] for the store.”

Volunteer jobs ore open to anyone of most ages, regardless of denomination or church membership. Anyone looking to volunteer for next year’s Christmas Store or who want to find out more about Valley Ranch can find more information on the church’s website, www.vrbc.net.

“Anyone can come here and do however many hours they want. It’s open Friday and all day Saturday,” Purdue said. “It’s a big community event.”