Student Contributor -H. Potter
Santa Express is a holiday retail store for all children in the Spokane, WA community; many of whom make this shopping experience part of their holiday tradition. The entirety of proceeds from the store benefits the Vanessa Behan, a safe shelter for kids who are in crisis situations. The store also offers the availability for adults to shop in the boutique of specialty items perfect for stocking stuffers, gifts for family, friends, or secret Santas to those that may not have financial means for Christmas. The gifts range from $1.00 to $10.00.
All of the proceeds from Santa Express goes towards Vanessa Behan. Vanessa Behan’s vision is to provide immediate refuge for children for children and support to strengthen families. This evolved from the tragic story of Vanessa Kay Behan, a Spokane girl who died from child abuse injuries at the age of two. Following her death, a group of local business people established our organization so that parents would have a safe place to bring their children in the face of crises. There primary services include 24-hour child care for infants and children under the age of 7, parent education, crisis counseling for parents, and referrals to other community agencies. Vanessa Behan helps parents who are having difficulty providing safe shelter and care for their children. They may be dealing with issues as complex as substance abuse, domestic violence and homelessness. Santa Express provides a lot for Vanessa Behan and that’s why it’s so important to help this organization out.
There are a lot of ways to partner with this organization! As a classroom, the teacher could have all the kids volunteer as "elves" or Santa's helpers. The students would dress up as elves or maybe even mini Santa's and help the kids that come to shop pick out gifts. The students would help wrap gifts and help cash out the shoppers. The students can also help the shoppers write cards to their family or whoever they are picking out gifts for. Another way to partner with the organization is to buy gifts for the shop. Students could all bring in a gift to contribute to the organization that they think the shoppers would enjoy. It doesn't have to be an expensive gift at all. Another way is to also just raise donations. The students could donate if they would like. They could bring back information to their families and ask if they would like to help out. All in all, there are a lot of ways to partner with this organization.
