Montgomery County Christmas Store

01/25/2025

Behind locked doors, the work of the Montgomery County Christmas Store goes on all year. Buyers begin hitting the sales the day after Christmas to stretch their budget dollars and find the best deals to purchase goods to fill the shelves in the departments.
Lots of work awaits the dedicated volunteers of the Eligible Adults Department.
Betty Moore, Kathy Pollard and Kathy Fowler look at the large number of carts loaded with new goods to process for the Adult Department.
Debbie Sherman-Lee begins getting shoes organized for the 2025 Store Week in December.
Beth Patterson looks over the large array of robes purchased for the Adult Department.
It takes our committed volunteers working all year long to prepare the Christmas Store to greet our eligible shoppers during Store Week in December. Thank you to all our caring volunteers who work all year to care for our neighbors in need in Montgomery County.

01/04/2025

01/02/2025

Kathy Pollard has shopped the sales for the Adult Department of the Christmas Store. According to Sally, "We are already preparing for 2025."

12/23/2024

During store week, we handed out fliers for Sleep in Heavenly Peace - VA, New River Valley to parents. More than 25 applications were filled out so far, resulting in over 60 children who are no longer sleeping on the floor! If you know of a child who does not have a bed, please reach out to this wonderful organization. If your church or civic group is interested in sponsoring a bed build, please let them know.

12/19/2024

Yesterday volunteers came out to build new shelves, move other shelves and dissemble old shelves. No Elf was found on any of the shelves!

Thanks White Builders, Inc. for volunteering!

It takes to get to that one week!

12/15/2024

I hope all the Department Heads were present for the photo so you can see the people who work all year to fill the shelves of each department for Store Week. Vicky said, "Look at this group of the most altruistic people gathered in one space celebrating a beautiful week together." She thanked them for the beautiful effort in bringing joy to 1260 families who came through our doors this year.
Shown below are the Board members who meet monthly to discuss ways to make sure the Christmas Store carries out the mission of serving those in need in Montgomery County. At a Board meeting, the tragedy of the devastation of Hurricane Helene was discussed. Because people care, this year with help from Giles County, 26 families including 17 children were identified as being victims of Hurricane Helene. So on December 4, boxes and bags of gifts were delivered to these families. All of the department heads worked extra time during the chaos of setting up the Christmas Store to choose and pack gifts that these families said they could use. We are so proud of the work they did and the outreach we could provide to more neighbors in need.

12/15/2024

Natasha volunteered everyday again this year! Thank you for being an amazing Shopper’s Assistant!

12/15/2024

The elves are always at the Christmas Store to help our eligible shoppers.
Thank you, indeed, to our many volunteers who came to help to make sure our friends in need will have a wonderful Christmas this year. It is a tradition to ask volunteers to put their nametags on the welcome board. Paula pointed out that every name tag really represents 4 or 5 people so you can see that it takes many of us working together to have a successful 2024 Christmas Store.
Merry Christmas to everyone!

12/15/2024

It is hard to believe how full the shelves were of new goods for all of our eligible shoppers! But we know that many families have all of the wonderful items that were on the shelves in their homes now for Christmas.
Thank you to all the businesses and volunteers who donated
food to keep the Cafe counter and tables full of goodies to keep our volunteers going. Everything was so delicious and appreciated.
The huge pile of potatoes, apples, and carrots was almost gone. Vicky was everywhere making shoppers had the food they wanted for the holidays.

12/15/2024

Look at all those empty shelves! Everything has been put away or covered until the buyers begin shopping the day after Christmas to start filling those shelves again.

12/15/2024

The 2024 Montgomery County Christmas Store is now closed. But from December 9-14, hundreds of volunteers worked together to provide Christmas to about 1260 households. If households average 3 people, then about 3000-4000 individuals received new items of clothing, toys, teen gifts, household goods, boxes of food, and books to take home to so their families could have a wonderful Christmas.
Walk around with me and see how volunteers have put everything away until it is time to start working on the 2025 Christmas Store.
Beth has put away all the chairs where our shoppers gathered to get ready to go shopping. They could choose all the books they wanted as they waited.
Joyce begins packing up all her goods for storage.
Everything is packed away in Boys & Girls 4-8.

12/14/2024

Dolly Parton's The Imagination Library is a new feature of the Book Department of the Christmas Store. If a parent has a child 5 and under, they can register to receive a monthly free book up to their 5th birthday. Mid week, Beth said that over 100 parents had registered. She expects the number to be even higher by the end of the week. Thank you to the Mt. Tabor Ruritan Club for sponsoring this worthwhile project.
All shoppers in the Store are offered free books and Beth says this new program helps achieve the goal of creating early readers.

12/14/2024

Today is the last day of the 2024 Montgomery County Christmas Store! It has been a wonderful week as we worked to meet our mission of providing Christmas to those in need.
The Buyers of each department in the Christmas Store work tirelessly all year to shop and stretch every dollar in their budget to buy items to fill the shelves.
The Eligible Adults Department volunteers greet seniors and disabled men and women with smiles as they welcome them to shop for new clothes, shoes, and personal products.
Kathy Pollard is a Buyer for women's items in this department. She has a good relationship with stores to shop to get quality clothing in the latest styles. "If I wouldn't wear it, I won't buy it," she said to me.
Linda Greever is the Buyer for the men's items. She loves to shop for warm flannel shirts and her goal is to have a variety of styles and colors for everyone. She said, "Men love wearing flannel shirts over t-shirts." She takes pride in having something for every man who shops in her department. She always has her Store credit card so she can shop when she travels to North and South Carolina and is always looking for bargains everywhere.
The Teen Gifts Department is lucky to have Jennifer as their Buyer. It is not easy to find affordable gifts that teenagers want but she does such a good job of having so many choices for parents. She loves to stock the shelves with art supplies and kits. She said, "I think art keeps minds active and encourages creativity and maybe will determine an interest in future selves."
Because of food insecurity, the Food Department of the Store provides critical support to our shoppers. Vicky is the Buyer for this department and she makes a special effort to have assorted food choices on the shelves. Shoppers can choose many different items in addition to the regular food such as peanut butter, Mac 'n cheese, soup, etc. Look at her choosing European chocolate!
The Diaper Depot provides diapers, wipes, and car seats to shoppers who need them. Jenna is the Buyer for this deparment and she prides herself on being able to sweet talk store managers into giving her really good deals on car seats. Car seats are expensive and she does a great job of stretching her budget dollars. Jenna wants to make sure the children of our shoppers are safe and secure in their cars.
Thank you to all our Buyers of the Christmas Store who really do work to find the best deals possible starting the day after Christmas. They work all year long to stock their shelves with the best of everything they can find for our shoppers.

12/14/2024

The Volunteer Wall shows some of the names of the hundreds of volunteers who worked tirelessly at the Montgomery County Christmas Store this week. Jed and Stacy show how much fun everyone has helping our shoppers choose everything they need to give their families a good Christmas! Thank you to all the volunteers for a wonderful Store Week!

12/13/2024

Another recurrent donor is the Town of Christiansburg's Public Works! Thank you all! We appreciate you!

12/13/2024

A big thank you to The Irwins for donating books and toys!

12/13/2024

Every year, VCOM organizes a food drive for us! Thank you all for your donation!

12/13/2024

Thank you, College of Agriculture Staff Association, for your food donation last week!