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My wife and I founded Shepherd Community back in 1985 and learned some valuable lessons in how to serve the poor with dignity and charity. Challenge your ministry to do the same, and change it up if there's a better way to show and share Christ's compassion. Dean Cowles
A Store that Offers Hope
Christmas! For families living in poverty, the thought of Christmas doesn't conjure up much excitement. Instead of looking forward to presents under the tree, many families are thinking about how to provide their next meal. The Christmas season offers little relief to their daily struggle - and their need for hope. Or does it?
Shepherd began helping families in poverty at Christmas 26 years ago. At the time, we had a simple goal (or so we thought): make sure every child in Shepherd's programs had a great Christmas - full of presents. So, we collected donations, set up a Christmas Store and walked each child through the store to pick out all the toys they wanted. After all, giving a child lots of toys - toys he/she wouldn't otherwise receive - would equal a Merry Christmas, right? Wrong! While our intentions of giving children a bountiful Christmas were good, the parents felt embarrassed that they couldn't provide for their families. Instead of helping the family, we actually hurt them - shaming the parents and taking away the joy and pride they felt in giving presents to their children. Lesson learned!
Shepherd's Christmas Store looks much different today. We want to give our families a hand up, not a hand out. Today our store is about relationships - empowering parents and restoring their joy in providing Christmas for their families. How do we do this?
It starts with generous donations of toys by individual and corporate supporters of our Caring at Christmas Toy Drive. The donated toys are used to transform Shepherd's East Washington Street and Ralston Street facilities into a shopping wonderland, full of age-appropriate gifts and other essentials such as hats, scarves, gloves, underwear and socks (much like you would find at a retail store).
During our Christmas Festival, parents sign up for a personal "shopping time" and come to the store, without their children, while volunteers help walk them through the store to select gifts for their children. Parents then wrap the gifts and take them home with pride - knowing the joy and excitement their children will experience on Christmas morning. This also helps foster an attitude of thankfulness and appreciation in children for their parents.
At Shepherd, we know the families we serve, their need, and we love their children as if they were our own. We still have great joy in being able to give gifts to the children at Christmas, but even greater joy in seeing parents empowered to provide for their family...restoring their hope. This holiday season, help Shepherd give the gift that will last far longer than the wrapping paper - give a family a Christmas that will last all year long.
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