SUNSET PARK — Salisa Hudson was looking for the perfect Christmas gifts for her three children, but she wasn’t in a department store. Instead, she was standing in a church hall.
Hudson was one of an estimated 600 people on Dec. 10 who visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, where Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens (CCBQ) set up a free “toy shop” filled with everything from dolls to trucks to books and puzzles that parents could pick out to give their children for Christmas.
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“Coming here today, I think I will absolutely be able to accomplish it,” Hudson said of the search for Christmas gifts for her three children, adding that she now feels she can give her family a wonderful Christmas.
The goal of the event, said Debbie Hampson, senior director of community outreach services for CCBQ, is to help parents who might be struggling financially find toys to put under the tree without spending money that might be needed for other things.
“We’ve really seen this past year, especially the last few months, a lot of our families have been struggling,” Hampson said. “People have been coming to us who normally don’t come to us for help.”
Pre-registration, which parents were required to do to participate in the event, filled up “faster than a Taylor Swift concert,” according to Hampson.
According to the Bank of America Institute, one in four families in the U.S. is living paycheck to paycheck — spending 95% of their income on necessities like groceries and rent with almost nothing left over for extras, like vacations or restaurant outings.
CCBQ scheduled a total of four “toy shops” — two in Brooklyn and two in Queens — on Dec. 10, 11, 18, and 19, and the organization expected to help more than 3,000 children have a blessed Christmas because of the four events, Hampson said.
Hudson was grateful for the opportunity.
“I’m having a little bit of a difficult time making ends meet and getting to the next month. So, it means the world,” she said.
CCBQ set up the basilica shop like a toy store, allowing parents to select their own gifts rather than having items handed to them.
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“This way, we’re really empowering the family,” Hampson explained.
Each parent was matched with a “shopper elf,” a volunteer who guided them from table to table to help them pick out gifts.
Susan Galligan, who has volunteered at CCBQ toy shops for 10 years, said she loves it because it reminds her of what Christmas is supposed to be about — “that kids have Christmas.”
