This year, social distancing has been the safest way to stay healthy and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Families have stayed home all year, and as the Christmas season approaches, we’re innovating ways that our program families can stay safe and healthy while still participating in fun holiday activities. That’s why we’re making plans to spread Christmas cheer through a COVID-19 adapted Christmas Store!
Ciudad Nueva’s Christmas store has been a joyful celebration each year. Families enrolled in our program stop by to enjoy delicious snacks and relish in the reunion of our community. Parents purchase toys and games for their children for a fraction of the retail price. It warms our hearts to see the faces of our neighborhood at our Christmas store to see a face light up when a parent can bring gifts home to place under the tree, and to lovingly wrap each gift.
Christmas time this year is going to bring a diverse set of celebrations and challenges for our community. We are determined to continue bringing cheer and hope to our local families during this season. Even though our physical store will look a little different in order to maintain social distancing, Ciudad Nueva’s Christmas store will still be available!
A Season of Giving
Our children and parents are so precious to us here at Ciudad Nueva. Our goal for our Christmas store this year is to provide the same affordable options for gifts without putting families enrolled in our programs at risk.
These unprecedented times have left families with fewer options for Christmas shopping. Our store this year will offer a wide selection of games and toys for families enrolled in our Ciudad Nueva programs. The items will be offered at a percentage of the prices found in most retail stores. The prices of our items typically range from $0.50 to $8.00. If that is a hardship, we’ll be happy to work with individual families to ensure that every child has a gift to open on Christmas morning.
The age levels for the toys include pre-school, elementary, middle school, and high school. There will be options for everyone!
Adapting Our Christmas Store Tradition for 2020
How will Ciudad Nueva’s Christmas store be adapted to maintain social distancing and help keep everyone safe? Our local social distancing orders and mandates change frequently, so we currently have two different options.
Option 1: Outdoor Christmas Store on Tuesday the 15th
To celebrate Christmas while keeping our community safe, we will open our Christmas store outside behind our facilities on Tuesday, December 15th! From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. so that our program families can come and shop for Christmas. Here are the details and safety precautions we have in place for this:
- Shopping with a mask will be required, so please bring your mask!
- Shopping will be staggered to avoid crowding, so when you pull up in your car, we’ll send you a text or give you a call when it’s time for your family to shop.
- The Christmas store will be outside behind our building at 528 E. Yandell, El Paso TX 79902.
- The Christmas store is only available for families enrolled in Ciudad Nueva’s programs.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Option 2: Scheduled Shopping Time
On a case-by-case basis for families that can’t join us on Tuesday the 15th, we would schedule a time with each family where they could come and shop at the Christmas store in privacy and safety.
We are still in the process of looking for the best option to keep physical contact minimal while making the store items accessible to families. Our team leadership is working hard and praying for discernment and wisdom in choosing the safest option. Please keep our team in your prayers as we navigate this newly adapted ministry.
If you are enrolled in our programs and are interested in accessing our Christmas store this year, please let us know! We will adapt our shopping methods according to the current state mandate as we approach the opening of the store. Families are welcome to contact us online or over the phone (915-521-2951) to get the most updated information, even up to days before the store opens. We are eager to make Christmas shopping accessible for every family, so we practice flexibility where needed.
It is our hope that through this ministry, parents will be able to shop safely and hear the pitter-pat of little feet running to find gifts under the tree on Christmas morning.
In the future years, we hope to open Ciudad Nueva’s Christmas store again as a festive, in-person store. This ministry is important to us, and we look forward to seeing the dear families of our community face-to-face as often as we safely can. Community events are the heart of Ciudad Nueva. We are praying that God will use this contactless adaptation of our store to spread His message of hope during this Christmas season. Our team is thrilled to be able to bring joy to children and their caregivers this year!
Ciudad Nueva is a community-based nonprofit that exists to advance the renewal and development of central El Paso’s Rio Grande neighborhood through the empowerment and transformation of its residents. Please join us this year! Call us today at 915-521-2951 or contact us online.
