Non-profit hosts free toy store for moms this Christmas

    DALLAS (KTVT) -- It's the season of giving and every parent wants to be able to give their child the gifts they want, even if it's tough on the budget; however, in some cases, they can't afford it.

But one Dallas non–profit is helping some moms.

"Oh, she loves stuff like this because she loves to quilt," said Kimberly Stubbs.

Stubbs is Christmas shopping for her 17-year-old daughter.

But this isn't your everyday toy store. There are no price tags, and everything you see is free of charge.

"Every year, we transform this meeting space into a huge Christmas store where our clients, who are enrolled in our program, and even our graduates can come and shop for their children for Christmas," said Christie Ritchie, the COO of Interfaith Family Services, a Dallas non-profit focused on helping moms facing homelessness."

Which is precisely what Stubbs was up against.

"My husband had got sick, and we got a little bit behind on our bills, and it seemed to not catch up. And the more he was in and out of the hospital, a little bit more and more, we got behind on our bills," said Stubbs. "God opened up for us to come here and it's been a blessing ever since."

She and her daughter have been living at Interfaith's shelter for the last four months.

While she's working towards getting her own place, Stubbs wasn't sure how she would get Christmas presents this year.

"I might not have everything together, but at least I can provide my child with some of the things that she may want. Maybe not all that she wants, but some of the things she wants," said Stubbs.

And that's what drives people like Ritchie to ensure this store stays open every year.

"I love being able to help people," said Ritchie, "It's always a blessing, like, because they didn't know how they were going to provide for Christmas."

Stubbs hopes this lesson in kindness is one that her daughter will take with her as she gets older.

"I think that it's going to encourage her to be, grateful and to show kindness to others and to just pass on the torch of being understanding because someone has been understanding to you," she said.

Interfaith says that between toy donations and money to buy the other gifts, it costs about $15,000 to put that toy store together. But what they really need are volunteers, especially around the holidays.