Mission Arlington Christmas store blesses families for the holidays
ARLINGTON, Texas - An annual Christmas store in Arlington is helping holiday dreams come true for local families. And on Monday it was shopping day at Mission Arlington.
"In the middle right here, you can get three different gifts for all your kids. And that wall right there, you get two for each kid," said Harmony Ontere.
Ontere is a senior at Sam Houston High School. But on Monday, he was a toy specialist at Mission Arlington’s Christmas store.
He helped to guide parents who stopped in in search of holiday blessings for their children.
Ontere explained what he liked most about volunteering.
"Some parents, they don’t know what they want. I had experience with picking out gifts and I help them a lot," he said.
Summer Barker is also a teen volunteer who helped in the gift-wrapping area.
"It’s nice to help out the community and know that what you’re doing is like going to be helping others," she said.
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Mission Arlington has been helping families in the community for 40 years.
The long-running charitable group’s leader, Tillie Bergin, said she’s excited to see an increase each year in terms of the number of families extended a helping hand.
"We tried to help people understand, ‘Let us help in the area of the extras and pay your rent. Don’t go into your rent money.’ So I think people are going to manage better and they have not been disappointed when they come here and get toys," Bergin said.
With volunteers like Ontere and Barker who enjoy what they do and with Santa’s approval, of course, it all went as smooth as can be.
This year’s Christmas store closes on Monday afternoon.