COLONY — Christmas is quickly approaching but Crest Elementary School students aren’t worried. They have all of their Christmas shopping done.
For the fourth year, Crest Parent Teacher Organization members helped students shop for their loved ones. LeAnn Church, one of the organizers, said children Pre-K age through fifth grade participated.
The PTO members set up a makeshift store on the school’s stage. Children came through the store to shop for presents. The pop-up shop was made possible by members of the community.
“All of these items are donated,” Church said. “We advertise that we need items on Facebook and we receive gracious donations.”
The organizers also look for discounted items after the Christmas season to purchase a few bargains.
Here’s how the store works:
Students write down 10 people they’d like to shop for, along with gift ideas. They then come inside the store and shop with a high school student. The store is sectioned into different categories: men, women, books, children and Christmas items. Once their shopping totes are full, they wrap the gifts themselves. High school family and consumer sciences from Kayla Taylor’s class helped the children browse and wrap their purchases.
“These kids are so excited to shop and buy for their family,” Church said.
First-grader Allison Weatherman found all of her gifts quickly.
“I like shopping for my cousins,” she said, “oh and my grandpa.”
Noah Hammer filled his shopping tub with lots of goodies. He said he liked buying gifts for his mom.
There were 105 kids who came through the store, which means there were 1,050 gifts needed. Grades come into the store one hour at a time to give the helpers time to restock the tables.
Students hunt for holiday deals
