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St. Lorenz’ First Christmas Shop a Success3 min read

In 2024, we at St. Lorenz, Frankenmuth made changes to our long-standing Caring Tree program. To better align with our desire to share God’s love with those who are working hard to make ends meet and still experience financial hardships, this year we hosted a Christmas Shop in the Worship Center Lobby for three days the first week of December. The items donated by those who took tags off of the Caring Trees were sold at the Christmas Shop.

The Christmas Shop gave individuals an opportunity to shop for toys, household items, and gifts at extremely affordable prices—most items were priced at $1. It also gave shoppers the gift of dignity as they handpicked special gifts for their loved ones to open on Christmas morning. We provided some “bonus” items like cleaning supplies, personal care items, toilet paper, etc. for free. We sold $50 Meijer and Kroger gift cards for $25 and $100 Consumers Energy gift cards were sold for just $15. The Clothesline had extended hours during our Christmas Shop days, and we handed out postcards to shoppers encouraging them to go shopping there while they were in town. We also directed people to our new Restore Food Cupboard.

It was such a positive atmosphere. People were friendly and full of smiles. A young mom came with her sweet baby girl. Volunteers got to hold the baby while the mom shopped. She had such a big smile on her face the entire time she was shopping. She was grateful for the opportunity to purchase household items and gifts for her daughter at such low prices.

One dad was shopping for his two teenage daughters and spent almost an hour selecting special gifts for them. After taking his purchases to his vehicle, he came back in to thank us again.

We offered shoppers a devotional book at check out. Most were happy to take them. One young woman said that she didn’t know if she wanted one and that she’d never had anything like that. We gave her the book and suggested that she read a little bit and, if she liked it, she should keep it, and if it wasn’t for her she could share it with someone else. She smiled and agreed.

Our volunteers were excellent and helped to create a comfortable environment for people to shop. One of our volunteers even sat on the floor to read a book to two toddlers who came with their mom. The boys enjoyed the story, and their mom enjoyed being able to shop while they were being cared for.

We had a couple of church members and school families shop. Letters were mailed to Caring Tree families from the past few years inviting them to shop and about eight of those families came. Several employees from local businesses came to shop as well. There were 42 total shoppers. As a comparison, we helped 27 families through the Caring Tree last year. An estimated 650 items were sold, bringing in almost $2,500 that will support our Community Outreach efforts.

Thank you to all who donated and provided support for this new way of helping those in need in our community. Your prayers and generous donations are appreciated as we share with others how beautiful it is to live with Jesus.

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About the Author

Jodi Reinert is the Connections Coordinator for St. Lorenz, Frankenmuth.

More by This Author

Dr. Robert Rahn - January 23, 2025

This would be a perfect venue for passing out our little Gospel booklet titled JESUS NEVER FAILS. We would provide them free of charge if you contact us next year for this event. It would be our mission gift for your use. You can read the copy on our web site http://www.lhfmissions.org

Jodi Reinert - January 28, 2025

Thank you, Pastor Rahn. I’ll touch base next fall!