Christmas Store brings hope for the holidays... again
About 800 families received food, new toys and clothing, cleaning supplies, health and hygiene products and other gifts during Be Concerned's 42nd annual Christmas Store in December.
More than 125 volunteers greeted shoppers during the four-day program, which was made possibly by financial and in-kind gifts from hundreds of donors. Be Concerned helped an estimated 300 more families after the Christmas Store with gifts of food and toys.
The Store, started in 1968 at the request of Msgr. Thomas Finn of Catholic Social Services, is one of the oldest continuously operated Christmas programs in Northern Kentucky.
Some sights from the 2009 Christmas Store:
↑ Elizabeth Morris, left, and Lola Jones, who volunteer weekly at Be Concerned, sort food donations so they can be stocked on shelves in the Food Room.
↑ Mike Ashe solicits shoppers at Ft. Wright Walmart in one of dozens of drives that provided product for the Christmas Store. Ashe was among volunteers for the Covington Rotary Club, which did two drives for Be Concerned.
↑ Longtime volunteer Janet Harden assists a customer in the Food Room.
↑ Customers peruse choices in Health and Hygiene, one of six departments in the Christmas Store, where they could get shampoo, conditioner, lotion, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid and other products.
↑ Connie Cropper, right, and Lori Bohman show winter clothing items to customers in H*GS, one of the busiest departments in the Christmas Store.
↑ A number of high school students helped out, including Covington Latin's Malory Thelen, who waited on customer in the Health and Hygiene Department in her sixth Christmas Store.
