This year, the students and staff at FHC raised over $27,400 for Family Promise of West Michigan. While to most students at FHC, this is just a number marking an intangible success for fundraising, to the families benefiting from the Christmas store, it’s an incredible achievement. After being partnered for 13 years, FHC is heavily relied upon by Family Promise to provide funds and volunteers for the store. Together, AP Environmental Science teacher Patricia Richardson and Biology/AP Biology teacher Kristy Butler help to organize the fundraising and volunteer effort for the store.
“The Christmas store is something that Family Promise has been doing for about 10 years or so,” Butler said. “They have families that have gone through their program, so they’re in a more stable housing situation, and the families can come in and buy Christmas gifts for their families, and then also get much-needed household items for them as well. [FHC volunteers] will buy a toy for 20 dollars, and then the families will come in and buy that for a dollar instead.”
Even if it might seem like no big deal, being able to buy their own Christmas presents is empowering to the families who come visit the store. They have been able to create a more stable environment for themselves and their family, and can begin to return to the more traditional aspects of the holiday season.
While parents shop for gifts and household items, their children are provided with activities and food in other areas of Cornerstone Church of Grand Rapids, where the store is located. This time is where the FHC students who volunteer are the most crucial. After being opened to the Student Council, opportunities to volunteer are given to students in the National Honor Society (NHS) for volunteer hours. Senior Kristin Hotaling is looking forward to the experience this year as she prepares to help out.
“To me, it’s more than just getting NHS hours,” Kristin said. “It’s also doing something genuinely valuable for your community and helping out in any way you can, even if that’s just watching after other people’s kids for an hour or two, and I think that’s awesome.”
Students are able to help out the Christmas store in a variety of ways, from purchasing the gifts and driving them to the church, to helping kids with cookie decorating, face painting, and games. This opportunity is something that a lot of the students at FHC are excited to help with and participate in. Junior Hayeon Lee is looking forward to her first time volunteering at the store.
“I’m most excited for the Christmas vibe and an early experience of the Christmas feeling,” Hayeon said. “I’m doing it with my friends, so I’ll be able to see them too. [To see] the kids so happy, that’ll be really nice to see.”
The avid participation of FHC students in the Christmas store is one of the most valuable things to Family Promise. In every way, especially through fundraising and volunteering, FHC is making a difference for these families through the store. Throughout the years of helping with it, Butler has seen this impact and the importance of the support the school offers.
“The fundraising is our whole community coming together and raising the money because we’re their primary source of income for that event,” Butler said. “Then [FHC’s] kids will go shopping. We’ll get a list of families and how many kids we have at various ages, and we’ll shop and take it all down to the church. Then students will help as Christmas elves at the store.”
To the students who help, being with the kids and making an impact on their holiday is the best part of helping at the Christmas store. For Kristin, the financial support that FHC can provide is one of the best ways that FHC helps out the families who visit the store.
“You have the opportunity to get volunteer hours and have a fun experience, but you can also do something valuable for your community, who maybe aren’t as fortunate,” Kristin said. “A lot of people at FHC are very fortunate to not have to worry about not being able to get Christmas presents or not being able to provide for their family during the holiday time, so you get to see another side of the joy of Christmas.”
To Hayeon, the connection between people at the store is one of the things that she’s most looking forward to. She enjoys volunteering in many ways, but the people she’s able to help through the Christmas store make it that much more special than her usual volunteering ventures.
“I think [the Christmas store] is important because it’s doing it for the good of other people,” Hayeon said. “It’s not just being selfish, but reaching out and helping those who are in need. I think that it will help because volunteering is such a selfless activity that people will feel better about themselves, as well as helping others.”
Even though it might be only a few hours out of someone’s night, to the families that come to the store, the atmosphere provided by FHC’s volunteers and the results of their fundraising efforts make it an incredibly special experience. For junior Aubrey Hibma, the ability to provide this is the most important result of helping at the Christmas store.
“Such a small act in a few hours of your day can really help somebody’s life,” Aubrey said. “If nobody [volunteered for] this, then those parents would be unable to have this moment to themselves and to shop for their kids.”
