Christmas Shop
For decades, Christmas has served as an additional catalyst for people of faith to find ways to reach out to others. CMS’s successful Christmas Shop brings hope and joy to children and families in the most need during the holiday season. CMS collects thousands of gift items, which are provided, collected, and sorted by volunteers from dozens of UCC congregations and several businesses. Over two hundred volunteers contribute their time to make this program a success. Each year, people’s generosity is only matched by their genuine enthusiasm for participating in the giving and volunteering that is essential to the Shop’s success. The best stories of holiday giving are about hundreds of people who reach into their hearts, their pocketbooks, and their personal time to give and unconditionally care about people they have never met through the CMS Christmas Shop. 
Each year CMS organizes a Christmas Shop where needy families and individuals are invited to come and select gifts for themselves and their children, generously donated by church members and other individuals.
These clothes, toys, books, and household goods are then made available to our own Crisis Intervention clients. In addition, we work with several other community partners who receive a portion of these donations and distribute them to their own clients. On average more than 1,500 people are helped by this program each year.