Health & Fitness
Santa Claus Shop Needs Help For Needy Local Families
Santa Claus Shop needs help to serve needy local families
The Santa Claus Shop will open its doors to area families, providing its 46th consecutive year of complimentary holiday shopping. The shop serves more than 500 low-income families and senior citizens from Summit, New Providence and Berkeley Heights who are referred by local social services agents.
The Santa Claus Shop guests personally select a household item, new clothing for each member of their immediate family and a new toy and book for each child. Local volunteers do gift-wrapping on the premises.
This year’s Santa Claus Shop will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 587 Springfield Avenue in Summit. The Santa Claus Shop will be hosting a holiday gathering for senior citizens Monday, December 3rd. Families will be offered extended shopping hours by invitation only on Tuesday, December 4th.
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The Santa Claus Shop exists solely on the donations of local businesses and volunteers. The Summit Junior Fortnightly Club, the Summit Women’s Club and the Junior League of Summit provide shopping helpers, wrappers and assistance with mailings. Local scout troops, church groups and students help with the cleanup and delivery of gifts to homebound seniors.
Westy’s Storage, Chatham will provide transportation and storage of items provided to the Santa Claus Shop, and invites the community to drop off new household items and new fleece blankets at its River Road location, where it will serve as a drop off site for donations.
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The Santa Claus Shop is chaired by Summit residents, Victoria Carrigan, Amy D’Andrea, Key Michel and Katrina Walsh and co-chaired by Stacie Collins, Carrie Fallon, Beth Little and Jenna Smith.
With the monetary donations from area residents, local organizations and businesses, the Santa Claus Shop can purchase the gifts that allow less fortunate neighbors to experience the joy of holiday giving without financial burden.
To keep the holiday spirit alive for those in the community, the Santa Claus Shop chairwomen ask for checks to be made payable to SHIP, with Santa Claus Shop noted on the check’s memo line, and mailed to the Santa Claus Shop, P.O. Box 119, Summit, NJ 07901.
