This Was The Third-Annual Toy Store Put On By The Nashville-Based Charity, The Store
On December 5-6, Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s nonprofit The Store hosted its third-annual Toy Store for the Christmas season.
Throughout the year, The Store is a free grocery store that aims to help people in need to shop while retaining their dignity. Customers go through a screening process to determine eligibility
According to The Store’s website:
“The Store is more than a place to get free groceries; it’s a space where individuals and families can choose from a variety of healthy, fresh, and nutritious foods, including fresh produce, healthy meats, milk, and eggs, without the worry of cost.”
With over 5,000 toys available for parents in need to select from, the event, according to The Store’s social media, helped ensure over 1,100 children will have Christmas presents under their tree.
Presented by Sam’s Club, over 600 volunteers worked to help pull off this incredible undertaking.
In a video shared by Kimberly Williams-Paisley to her social media, she said of the Toy Store, “This kind of normalcy, like getting to pick a gift for someone you love, that might fall by the wayside if you’re facing food insecurity, because you don’t have the money for a luxury like that.”
Continuing, Kimberly said that it was essential that people retain their “dignity” as they go through this process, adding that it was important “to have this feel a little bit luxurious and special.”
Speaking with NewsChannel5 out of Nashville, Brad Paisley said, “I know feeding people is the mission for us, but nothing illustrates the vision of dignity and choice like this. When you see kids come in and pick what they want, it’s just the best sort of encapsulation of what we want to do.”
Watch Brad and Kimberly speak about the Toy Store, here:
Hear from Kimberly Williams-Paisley about the Toy Store, here:
How It Worked
For families who qualified to receive assistance from The Store, they received 20 tickets per child.
These tickets could then be redeemed for toys, with toys being offered at certain ticket costs.
Among the toys offered, there were 30 Gibson guitars donated by Gibson Gives, and there were even several bikes to choose from.
For some families in need, the fun of the Toy Store is allowing children to select their own presents, but for parents who were hoping to keep some secrets, there were activities offered for their children to keep them distracted while Christmas shopping was underway.
See more about how The Store ran the Toy Store, here:
Learn more about The Store, and how you can get involved, by visiting its website.