what is holy trinity christmas angels?

Christmas Angels is a program of Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas, Texas. The program, via donations, sponsors, and volunteers, provides new clothes, shoes, toys/gifts, and household items to hundreds of children and dozens of seniors who are clients of our parish food pantry, Holy Trinity Center. The program also provides grocery cards to every household, with the amount based on household size. It takes six months of volunteer effort by our planning committee to manage end execute the program every year. In addition, we need dozens of volunteers for two days in December when everything comes together for the collection and distribution to our recipients.

what volunteer shifts are available?

Drop off/intake crew
This Friday evening 12/13 shift is from 3:30pm to 10:00pm (approx end time, could be earlier depending on your specific tasks). The Friday evening shift will be for the sponsor gift dropoff. We will have volunteers assisting sponsors at their cars to unload gifts and bring them inside. Some gifts may need to be carried from the pastoral center to the gym. We'll also use volunteers to check in the donations and help move them to our storage areas. Others will be on teams inspecting the contents of each gift bag to see if sizes are correct or if we need to supplement what a child has been given. If you have great organizing skills and pay attention to details, this shift is for you. Depending on your assignment, this may include some phone calls, light physical labor and/or squatting, etc.
Emergency shopping crew
This Friday evening 12/13 shift is from 7:30 until midnight (could end earlier if our sponsors have made the correct purchases and less shopping is required). This is a special shift and a VERY important one. We are always missing dozens or scores of items that sponsors were supposed to provide (wrong size, inappropriate toy, etc) and those items need to be purchased Friday night so they are ready for the families Saturday morning. You will be going to places like WalMart or Target where you can (usually) find everything on the list we give you. Never fear, the lists are usually organized and you will be reimbursed. If you consider yourself a power shopper and really want to feel heroic, this shift is for you. You can sign up for this shift as well as another Friday or Saturday shift.
pick up/distribution crew
This Saturday morning 12/14 shift is from 7:30am till 1:30pm (or whenever we finish, usually earlier). On Saturday, the families will arrive for their gifts, mainly picked up in a drive-through design. Volunteers will be needed to move packages from the holding area to the pickup area, carry packages to clients' cars, call clients who have not come at their pickup times, and direct traffic. If you have Spanish language skills, that's an asset for this shift. The workload for this shift can sometimes ebb and flow due to the varying rate of client arrivals.

what else should i know?

We will provide ample meals, snacks, and drinks for the volunteers both days. Of course, we will also have masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, etc. All you need to bring is yourself, your good humor, comfortable shoes, enough energy to get the job done, and a metaphorical backpack full of flexibility ;-) This is a massive undertaking and runs relatively smoothly, thanks to our great volunteers, but we will all need to adapt as the situation requires.
We will be sending out some volunteer guidelines and expectations for the project, so please be prepared to read and follow them in order that we can have a productive, efficient, and enjoyable time.
Thanks in advance and remember, it takes a village! If there is someone you would like to bring with you to volunteer, please share this info with them so they can sign up ahead of time.

where can i sign up?

click here for the sign up sheet!
Unanswered questions about volunteering? Email us at htchristmasangels@gmail.com.