Saturday, December 11, the downtown Raleigh YMCA (Young Male Christian Association) held an annual event to help families without resources buy Christmas presents for kids.
There were three ways of volunteering: serving refreshments, working the buffet available for the families, being a personal shopper, helping the families with their Christmas shopping, and helping the families wrap their presents.
All the presents were donated by Y members and they were categorized by clothes, toys and educational toys. Each family could buy one item of each category per kid. The presents price was decreased by a 90% which resulted in a price range between $1-$4. Even though the price discount was huge, during the checkout if the families found out they couldn’t afford it, they would get another discount. After the checkout the families were taken to another room where they got their presents wrapped and the wrapping was totally free.
I volunteered as a personal shopper for the first 3 hours. My job consisted of teaching the families the rules, helping them find their gifts and helping carry their things. As a matter of fact, the two families I helped were both South American, so I had to speak Spanish with them. After that, when most of the families were done with their shopping, the remaining families were waiting to get their presents wrapped so I helped in the wrapping section.
This was the first time I had ever volunteered in an event like this one, and I have to say it felt really good. I think everyone should volunteer in events helping others. First of all because it makes you feel really good by helping other people, and second of all because it makes you realize a reality many people aren’t aware of: Even though we don’t see these people every day, they’re still there and their kids deserve Christmas presents just like every other single kid in the world. We should do everything we can to help them.
