Roland School is collecting donations for a one-of-a-kind Christmas shopping experience for students.
The school is opening the Elves R’Us store this holiday season, a second-hand shop full of pre-loved items for students to buy for family members for Christmas gifts.
“We want to be able to share the joy of gift giving with our students,” said Roland School principal Melissa Benner. “Giving them the opportunity to ‘shop’ for their families so they can experience the joy that comes from giving gifts at the holidays and seeing the excitement from their families receiving these gifts.”
Other schools in the area have done a store similar to this in past years, and Benner said those have been well received. Marcia Rempel at Roland School organized the elf store after seeing how well it did in other schools. She said she wanted Roland School students to have the chance to get gifts for their family members without them knowing what they got.
“Sometimes you find stuff there that’s brand new,” said Rempel. “It’s a really cool thing. And some things can become a new-to-you item.”
The school accepts donations of home items in good condition — knick-knacks, home décor, toys, mini hockey sticks, candles, mugs, hats, and more. Sometime in the coming weeks, the store will open in the school’s library, and each student will get to “shop” at the store, a staff member helping them along the way to ensure they get something for everyone on their list. As Rempel organizes the donations as they come in, she’s trying to ensure enough for everyone’s siblings and parents.
If the school can get enough item donations, the store will be completely free for students, hopefully costing them nothing to go shopping. Once students have all their items, they’ll take them to a wrapping station, where staff members and volunteers will wrap their gifts for them. The school is also accepting wrapping paper and tape donations for this part.
“Not everybody gets a chance to go shopping at Christmas,” said Rempel. “And it always makes you feel really good if you can give someone something. It’s neat to see what they pick out, how perceptive some of them are.”
The Elves R’Us store also reduces waste, especially at one of the most wasteful times of the year. By encouraging reusing, the store will keep more items out of landfills and out of production this holiday season.
