why a Christmas store?

We are in partnership with others this season to offer an alternative to a Christmas Adopt-a-Family program...The Christmas Store...where new gifts are donated and then sold at a 75-80% discount. Why?

"Something seems to go wrong when one with valued resources attempts to distribute them to others in need. The transactions, no matter how compassionate, seem to go sour in the gut of both giver and recipient. A subtle, unintentional message slips through: "You have nothing of worth that I desire in return." The giver remains protected by his one-up status while the recipient is exposed and vulnerable."

"Perhaps the deepest poverty of all is to have nothing of value to offer in exchange. Charity that fosters such poverty must be challenged. We know from forty years of failed social policy that welfare depletes self-esteem while honorable work produces dignity. We know that reciprocity builds mutual respect while one-way giving brews contempt."

-Robert Lupton, quotes from his book Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life