Every family should have a holiday season full of warmth and cheer. This is especially true for families living in shelter. Parents are already working tirelessly to find safe and affordable housing and create some sense of normalcy and stability for their children. Making sure that their families have space for joy during this special time of year is essential.
At People Serving People, we ensure guests in our shelters have everything they need to enjoy the holidays, so they can focus on what matters most—spending time with their families.
We don’t want parents to worry about affording presents for their children. That’s why we host a “Gift Shop” at both shelter locations. During this event, parents can peruse hundreds of new, donated toys to select the perfect gifts for their children. Additionally, to restore family autonomy and dignity, every shelter family receives a gift card that they can use to personalize their gift giving.
Our Gift Shop is a great event that helps families get in the holiday spirit. But we do so much more than that! We provide trauma-informed care, healing spaces, and activities for our families each and every day, and we make sure to add more opportunities for joy and meaning-making over the holidays by:
- Decorating the lobbies of our two shelters, turning our common spaces into a winter wonderland.
- Preparing delicious holiday meals, like a turkey dinner, at both shelters. This food is served by our wonderful meal service volunteers, who make time during the holidays to support our families.
- Hosting a Santa Night at St. Anne’s Place, complete with a visit from Santa and fun winter activities, which is hosted annually by Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church.
- Extending the opportunity to receive new toys from our gift drive to parents of our Early Learning Center.
All of our year-end festivities are fueled by our dedicated volunteers as well as our in-kind and monetary donors. Creating this holiday magic simply wouldn’t be possible without the support of neighbors like you!
