Families in need can shop for the holidays for free at the Community Christmas Store

Salem, Virginia – The Community Christmas Store of the Roanoke Valley is offering families in need a free shopping experience to help them make their Christmas unique during the most beautiful time of the year.

For thirty-one years, hundreds of families have been blessed with a memorable Christmas thanks to the Community Christmas Store. This year is no exception, as around 389 families are welcomed through the doors.

“We work with people who are not below the poverty line in Roanoke, Salem, Vinton, and Craig counties, and we accept applications in collaboration with a few local government agencies to identify those who we can assist.” We assist everyone from newborns to elderly people with disabilities,” stated Natalie Sigmon, the Community Christmas Store Grant Coordinator.

Families that meet the requirements can shop for free. Families are welcomed by a host when they arrive, get a cart, and shop in every department, including food items, apparel, kitchen equipment, and the amazing toy section.

In order to be able to give those people exactly what they need, we are searching for any grants or donations we may obtain. Therefore, we shop based on their requests and wants. We do receive some unusual requests, so we go shopping specifically for them and then come in and arrange everything to make sure we have everything everyone wants,” Sigmon added.

All year long, hundreds of volunteers put in endless effort to make sure that every day of operations results in enduring memories.

We received 18,000 pounds of food this year; we are grateful to Feeding Southwest Virginia. We will therefore deliver that over the course of three days this weekend. The entire thing will be gone by Saturday. Ray Huff, the Community Christmas Store Food Box Coordinator, said, “I have fantastic coordinators and volunteers that help put boxes together and load the vehicles in the back.”

For more than 25 years, Ray Huff and his spouse Felicia have been volunteers at the Christmas store, and they take pleasure in the positive influence it has on the neighborhood each year. According to Huff, many members of the community are still unaware of their services after 31 years.

Our guiding principle is that the families we support don’t always have the best luck. Therefore, we want to ensure that they don’t have any worries on one day of the year. “They have a great Christmas with lots of food and lovely presents,” Huff remarked.

Depending on available space, the store is set up in a different place each year. The store is operating out of Salem’s Spartan Square this year. The goal of the organizers is to eventually have a permanent site.

“We don’t currently have locations to put anything all the time, so when this is all finished on Saturday, the structure collapses and becomes empty once more. Additionally, we don’t have storage for everything, so we just buy for the folks that are present. After it’s finished, we strive to reduce it as much as possible and obtain storage space for the year until we locate another location that has been donated for the following year,” Sigmon added.

However, they are delighted to keep making families smile over the holidays.

Visit roanokevalleyccs.org to volunteer, make a donation to the Community Christmas Store, or apply to participate in the services the next year.