Photo courtesy of Christmas House. 

For the 72nd year, a non-profit in Orange County known as Christmas House opened its doors on Saturday with the goal of spreading much-needed joy to more than 800 children throughout the county who need help this holiday season.

Founded in 1950 by the Chapel Hill Service League under its original name Empty Stocking, Christmas House volunteers gather each year to collect and sort thousands of new toys, books, and coats to distribute to hundreds of local school children throughout Orange County. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District and Orange County School District social workers collectively determine which families are most in need among the districts.

The collected gifts are assembled and displayed for a one day “shopping” event where parents and guardians were invited to personally select the gifts for their children, ages 3-14, at no charge to the families. In addition to parents and guardians, social workers involved in the cause have the opportunity to choose gifts for the students who are currently placed in foster care, or for whose families were unable to attend.

Each year, Christmas House relies on donations, collecting them throughout the calendar year in preparation, both from individuals and an array of neighboring organizations and businesses such as Barnes and Noble and Chapel Hill’s own Flyleaf bookstore, both of which have actively aided in sizable book donations in recent years. East Chapel Hill Rotary Club has also partnered with Christmas House this year to provide bike donations, along with assistance in purchasing and assembling new bikes. The bikes are gifted each year to the children’s families through a lottery system as they’re in short supply.

Beyond the donations needed, however, the success of each year’s event relies heavily on the work of volunteers and translators.

“We have a lot of Burmese, Karen, and Spanish-speaking families, and although we have translators who come in for assistance, we are always in need of more,” says Kimberly Zirkle, a co-chair of Christmas House who has been a part of the community since 1966.

Zirkle adds that despite the name Christmas House and its association with Christianity, the event includes families from all backgrounds and practiced beliefs.

“The name of Christmas House has been around for so long that we just haven’t changed it, but for me [the name] is not as inclusive as I would like it to be,” Zirkle says. She said she and other members hope to broaden the event’s outreach and attract even more diverse families in the coming years.

Christmas House’s overarching goal is to reach beyond gift giving and to improve the experiences of local women and children and the community as a whole. But this time each year, as the holiday season rolls in, the purpose is more straightforward: to make the holidays brighter.

“Our goal is to alleviate that financial pressure,” says Zirkle, “to help bring some magic to the lives of these parents and ultimately their children.”

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