Lions Club needs volunteers for Kids’ Christmas 2025

submitted by Barry Allen, Manchester Lions Club

Kids’ Christmas has been a Manchester tradition for many years. Starting back with the Civic Club, then to the Kiwanis along with the Lions, it is now coordinated solely by the Manchester Lions Club in conjunction with Manchester Family Services. But the Lions Club needs volunteers from the community to help with the event. For years we kept it quiet to preserve the privacy and dignity of our recipients, but by being too quiet, we made it difficult to find the host of volunteers we need to perform this community service. In recent years we have decided to be more forthright to make the event more open while remaining secure.

On Saturday, December 13, we will meet at the Riverside School cafeteria where at 8:30am our families will arrive for the Kids’ Christmas shopping event. Family Services provides a list of eligible families and the kids and we will check them in, giving each child a “shopping pass,” which they will be able to use in selected businesses in Manchester to purchase gifts for their siblings and parents. Upon arrival they will be assigned a seating area at one of the many tables, and provided breakfast treats and beverages. Adult sponsors will pair up with the individual children and prepare to take them shopping. As the kids shop, their transactions will be recorded by the merchant, then the Lions Club will stop by later and pay according to their shopper number and the total cost.

Then they return to the Riverside cafeteria where they will wrap all the gifts they have found at the various businesses, and at 11am pizzas will arrive, donated by Ollie’s, and Santa arrives. Santa will draw the names of each participating child and they will get to select toys for themselves. Most of the toys are the result of the Manchester Fire Department’s Toys For Tots program, so please support them. The event wraps up at about noon or shortly thereafter and the children take their Christmas presents home. The volunteers will then clean up the cafeteria so no one will be able to tell we’ve been there.

Special thanks to all of our volunteers and donors, especially Worth Repeating, the Manchester Fire Department, Masons and Lions, Ollie’s, and Manchester Family Services. To volunteer, call/text Barry Allen, 734-904-4694, or email him at pdg.barryrallen@gmail.com. We will also need a few volunteers for Friday afternoon about 4pm for set-up.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.