Every child needs a Christmas gift!
The Shepherd's Toy Shoppe is a community program, sponsored by Refuge Community Church, that helps relieve the stress and financial burden of parents who cannot provide gifts for their children at Christmas time. Refuge Community Church is located in Warren, Michigan - ministering to the community since 1997.
For the past 5 years The Shepherd's Toy Shoppe has provided FREE, brand new Christmas gifts for nearly 1500 of Metro Detroit's homeless and poor children. Here are a few statistics:
2010 – 143 children helped
2011 – 262 children helped
2012 – 207 children helped
2013 – 305 children helped
2014 – 492 children helped
2015 – 700 is our goal!
When we say we gave gifts, we mean much more than 1 gift per child. We give each family 4 gifts per child, plus several stocking stuffers, hats/gloves, and household/hygiene items. We also provide wrapping paper and stockings. Parents come to shop at a designated time or appointment so that they have privacy and time to choose gifts that their children would enjoy and appreciate. The best gift to us is seeing the RELIEF and TEARS on the parent's faces as they leave with their gifts in hand. Knowing that they can put something under the Christmas tree gives them joy for the season again! It gives them HOPE!
Our Philosophy
It's simple, we don't just want to give a child a gift, we want to give them a Christmas. Along with presents, our volunteers are ready to pray with families and share the gospel message with them.
Donations
Every year we rely on donations from charitable organizations and local businesses. In previous years we solicited donations in partnership with a local homeless shelter. This year Refuge Community Church has been asked to manage this project on it's own. The shelter is still working with us to recommend families in need, but doesn't have sufficient manpower to handle soliciting donations. So we need YOUR help. We need new donors, either financial or to collect actual toys. Please help spread the word so we can meet our goal of bringing Christmas morning to 700 kids!
Help us bring HOPE to our community!
