By Carol Reeves
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Friday, December 14, 2007 12:00 am
The sounds of holiday shoppers combined with Christmas music and the smell of homemade cookies made for a festive atmosphere Thursday at Knollbrook Christian Reformed Church in southwest Corvallis.
About 90 low-income families were invited to shop for free at a special holiday store sponsored by Love INC, a Corvallis organization that connects people in need with donated resources and local church volunteers.
Families were given vouchers, based on the number of people in the family, to "spend" on everything from household items to clothing, toys, Christmas decorations and local gift certificates. Much of the store's inventory was brand new and it spread throughout the church lobby, fellowship hall, auditorium and an extra storage room.
"This is amazing," said Kari Rich, a single mom of four and grandmother of three. "This has really made our Christmas."
She, one of her daughters and a daughter-in-law helped sort and display donations during the week, as did her ex-husband, Terry Dodson, who just moved to Corvallis a month ago from Phoenix to be closer to his grandchildren. A maintenance worker for 20 years, he hopes to find a job here soon, but said being unemployed during the holidays is hard.
"I've been greatly impressed by the help offered here compared to Phoenix," he said.
The idea for a Christmas store came up about six months ago.
"We thought wouldn't it be fun to have a holiday store where people could help set it up and earn their own gifts?" said Love INC director Wilma Van Schelven. The staff eventually decided, however, that the project would be too much work.
In October, a woman who had closed her home decor business called to see if Love INC. could use a pickup load of gift items. Van Schelven wasn't sure how useful they might be to their clients, but since the Knollbrook Church had the storage space she agreed to take them.
Two weeks later, the Jackson Street Youth Shelter offered a lot of extra coats and blankets. Another woman donated 600 hand-crocheted potholders and kitchen towels.
"We finally said, 'OK, God. We get it. We'll do this,'" Van Schelven said.
Since then, she said, donations have been "appearing like magic," including 50 blankets and $500 for purchasing new toys donated by Entek employees in Lebanon.
Every family received one "big ticket" voucher in addition to their individual vouchers that could be redeemed for large gifts such as furniture, bikes or luggage. Some who helped organize the store during the week got extra vouchers and were allowed to shop first.
"We actually had more volunteers ask to help than we could use," Van Schelven said. "It just shows that most low-income families are willing to work for the help they receive."
Van Schelven said whatever was left over would be taken to Vina Moses or other charities that could use them.