Connect Calgary Christmas Shoppe

The Cause

The Connect Calgary Christmas Shoppe is a community event we started last year on a small scale and we would like to take it to a much larger scale this year.
The Christmas Shoppe is a free store for low income housing parents to pick out 2 toys for each child that they have at the value of $50 per toy. Our team provides a safe (all volunteers are vulnerable sector background check) atmosphere upstairs in our building for the children to play and do Christmas crafts while the parent shops downstairs and is pampered. We provide free pictures with Santa, hot chocolate or coffee & treats to the parent, a stocking making station, age and gender appropriate gift selection and a team that gift wraps everything before they leave so the children never see the toys. Each family also goes home with a $50 grocery gift card to purchase a Christmas dinner for themselves.
We partner with the local low income housing units in our area, knock on doors with the housing representative and sign the parents up for time slots throughout the weekend. This year the Christmas Shoppe will take place on December 9-10, 2022.
No church services take place. This is a weekend where we love on families who have had a very difficult season.

Who Will it Benefit?

Parents who have had a difficult year or who live in low income housing.
Children of the ages of 0-18 years of age.
Business owners of businesses who are struggling in the Calgary area.