The Santa Claus Shop will open its doors to area families, providing its 51st consecutive year of complimentary holiday shopping. The shop serves more than 400 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, a hat and mittens, a book, and a new toy for each child. Local volunteers are responsible for the shop setup, personal shopping services for each guest, gift-wrapping and clean up.
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 Tuesday, November 28th. Families will be offered shopping hours by invitation only on Wednesday, November 29th.
The Santa Claus Shop is chaired by Summit residents, Denise Holmes, Laura Lameo, Jenn Moore and Diana Moran and co-chaired by Liz Febo, Kourtney Matter, Franny McBride and Shelley Sherman. The Santa Claus Shop exists solely on donations and volunteers. 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. The ability to make an online donation is also available at https://www.summitsantaclausshop.com. If you would like to find out more information or get involved please visit our website or follow us on Facebook at Santa Claus Shop – Summit, NJ.
(above l-r) This year’s chairwomen Denise Holmes, Diana Moran, Laura Lameo and Jenn Moore.
