Sharing gifts, making memories: Volunteers strive to give children a magical Christmas
Marilyn Webb, left, and Helen Burke, volunteers at the archdiocesan Catholic Charities’ Christmas Store in Indianapolis, show their delight at the donation of a doll, knowing it will make a child’s Christmas special. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)
By John Shaughnessy
For Sharon Bernhardt, her entire approach to Christmas comes down to a memory and a promise she has made to herself.
The defining memory connects to an overwhelmed mother who came to the Christmas Store in Indianapolis, the Catholic Charities’ festive setting that provides toys, clothes, sports equipment and other gifts to make the holiday special for about 4,000 people in need—most of them children—every December.
“There was one woman in particular I was taking around the store,” recalls Bernhardt, who has volunteered for more than 30 years at the Christmas Store. “As we were going around, she talked to me about having three extra children at Christmas that she didn’t expect, and that was the reason she was here. She had taken in her brother’s children because of a situation that had happened in the family.
“She was a little overwhelmed. She was just trying to cope with everything. I think it was a relief to her that we were able to step in and accommodate the extra children in the family and make sure they got gifts.”
Sharing that memory leads to the promise that Bernhardt has made to herself as one of the longtime members of the women’s Red Apron crew of volunteers at the Christmas Store.
“I’ve been in situations where I’ve talked to kids after Christmas and expected them to be really excited, asking them, ‘What did you get?!’ And their response was, ‘Well, I got six dollars,’ ” says Bernhardt, a member of Holy Spirit Parish at Geist in Fishers, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese. “That just makes me sad because there’s so much out there about Christmas. All the commercials. The best toys. The biggest things. But it’s just one more day to them. Nothing is special.
“You realize there are a lot of people who are a lot less fortunate than most of us are. I like that we can sometimes be the people who keep that from happening to a child. When everything in the whole world is about Christmas, I don’t want there to be a child who doesn’t have something on Christmas.”
‘Just the right thing to do’
That feeling is shared by Diane Powers and Helen Burke, longtime Red Apron volunteers who view their efforts and the mission of the Christmas Store in Indianapolis—and the one in Terre Haute—as an extension of the Catholic faith.
“Our Church has a preference for the poor,” says Burke, a member of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis who has volunteered for about 10 years. “So being able to help people who may be struggling and help them get back on their feet a little bit is just the right thing to do.”
Powers considers her contributions as a way of thanking God “who has been so good to me all my life.”
“For me to give back in this way, I feel like I’m carrying out his work and continuing to do what he would do if he was on this Earth helping people,” says Powers, a member of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis who has volunteered at the Christmas Store for 10 years.
“I’m always going to have a need for God. And the people on this Earth who are less fortunate are always going to have a need for people to help them. God has helped me in so many ways, and now I can help other people. It’s come full circle.”
It’s all part of a year-round effort to make one day special in the lives of the 800 families that are served.
Some of the Red Apron volunteers shop year-round for toys, always on the lookout for deep discounts. Numerous social service agencies provide lists of families in need of help from the Christmas Store. Donations of gifts and money come from parishes, schools and individuals, including Catholic school children who donate crunched-up dollar bills, quarters, dimes and nickels to the effort.
Then there’s the homestretch efforts of the volunteers when the Christmas Store opens.
“The ladies in this volunteer organization would do anything for anybody,” Burke says. “We test batteries. We wrap gifts. We sweep the floors. We do whatever this store needs to be successful. It’s absolutely wonderful to be with like-minded people and to really have a purpose that we’re all pulling together for. We’re from all different parishes, but we just fit together, and it’s really a nice feeling.”
All those elements haven’t changed, but the approach of the Christmas Store has, since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.
Smiles and tears of gratitude
To keep the Christmas Store going that year, the volunteers and the Catholic Charities staff that oversees the effort had to find an approach that minimized the potential effects of the spread of the disease when large groups gathered in one place.
No longer do the volunteers escort parents through the Christmas Store, letting them seek and choose gifts. Now, parents make a general list of the toys and items that they believe will add a touch of magic to their children’s Christmas. The Red Apron volunteers take that list and do the shopping at the Christmas Store for the families.
“The parents call us an hour before they’re coming,” Bernhardt says, noting that each family has a day and time scheduled to pick up their gifts. “We use that hour to put all the family’s gifts together. As much as we can, we try to give them what they want and need. Then they come and pick them up. The gifts are already in big, black plastic bags so if they have to bring their children with them, the kids can’t see what the gifts are.”
Some people arrive in wheelchairs and use walkers. A number of people leave with smiles and tears of gratitude. As one of the volunteers who checks in the parents when they arrive at the Christmas Store, Bernhardt always greets them with the joy of the season.
“I try to make them feel comfortable,” she says. “For some of them, they don’t want to be in a place where they have to say they need help in getting things for their children. I try to make them feel that it’s no big deal, that ‘we’re happy to do what we can do to help you and your family have a really good Christmas.’ ”
It all leads to one more special Christmas gift.
‘This is Christmas for me’
That gift is the feeling the volunteers have on Christmas morning, when they think about the children and the parents sharing the gifts and the joy of that special day together.
“In the back of my mind, I hear squeals of delight as kids find something under their tree that they weren’t expecting,” Burke says with a huge smile.
“It’s a sense of accomplishment,” Bernhardt says. “I’ve done what I can for those 4,000 people.”
Powers views the Christmas celebration from another perspective, one touched by the death of her husband Jim three years ago.
As she thinks about what the Christmas Store has done for others, she knows what volunteering there has done for her.
“This is my Christmas because I don’t have children and my husband is gone.”
She pauses for a moment as tears begin to fill her eyes.
“I’m going to get emotional. Working here is my Christmas. I don’t have a Christmas morning celebration. We decorate upstairs here. It’s festive, and there’s Christmas music. And everybody is in a good mood. So, for those three or four weeks leading up to Christmas morning, this is Christmas for me. It’s very heartwarming.”
(For information about the Christmas Store in Indianapolis and how to volunteer or donate to its efforts, contact Michelle Gudger at 650-294-3033 or by e-mail at mgudger@archindy.org. For information about the Christmas Store in Terre Haute and how to volunteer or donate to its efforts, contact Danielle Elkins of Catholic Charities Terre Haute at 812-232-4978, option 1, or by e-mail at delkins@ccthin.org.) †
