SALEM, Va. (WFXR) – For decades, the Roanoke Valley Community Christmas Store has provided a one-stop shop for pre-qualified families in need across Roanoke County, Craig County, Salem, and Vinton to find gifts, household items, and clothing at no cost.
They recently completed the 2024 season and are looking for help from the community as they start to look toward 2025.
On Saturday, dozens of volunteers worked to clean out the store’s temporary location in Salem’s Spartan Square Shopping Center.
“It’s a very backbreaking experience to get everything into storage,” said store president, Angie Apgar. “Especially our shelving. It’s very heavy and it’s not easy to put together.”
Breakdown day is a yearly tradition for the store that is still searching for a permanent location after 31 years serving the community.
They have spent the last three Christmases at the Spartan Square location but are not allowed to leave anything behind during the rest of the year.
“There have been several years that we’ve had donated space, donated storage but that’s happening less and less each year,” said Apgar. “So now we’re having to budget for paying rent, paying for storage, and then sometimes paying for movers.”
It all adds up to a big extra bill for a group that relies on donations.
Not to mention the time and energy spent moving things in and out of storage each year, which further limits the time they can serve the community to just a few days.
It also means they have to make sure that everyone who relies on them and looks forward to the store’s opening knows where they will be each year.
“We have no paid staff, and I think all of our volunteers deserve a permanent location so we can set it up once and for all and just worry about stocking and getting the families in here,” said Apgar.
The families are what keep the hundreds of volunteers coming back each year, despite the headaches caused by setting up and tearing down before and after the season.
This year, they served nearly 400 families totaling over 900 individuals.
“We were happy to have the families through and we hope that what little we were able to do helps them have a better Christmas,” said Apgar.
If you are interested in making a donation to the store or know of a permanent space they can use, you can visit their website.