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Event helps low-income Missoula kids enjoy the holidays

Posted at 3:43 PM, Dec 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-17 09:37:26-05

MISSOULA – The Missoula community always shows out to support each other during the holidays.

This time of year can be difficult for many, especially for those struggling to make ends meet. But on Saturday, the local non-profit 406 Market offered a free shopping day for kids in the St. Paul Lutheran Church.

More than 7,000 clothing items, Christmas decorations and toys were donated to the group for children to pick out, wrap up, and give to their parents.

Children picked gifts for their guardians and wrapped them at stations to keep the present a surprise. The event was planned to last until 6, but by 4 o’clock there were less than 100 donations left.

406 Market founder Samantha Bergman says they started doing this in 2015 as a way to make holiday shopping fun for low-income families.

“You know there’s Christmas events but there’s not really anything for low-income families. I definitely never see anything like this in this town, so I was like ‘we need to do it’,” Bergman said.

“So we tried it and it was an amazing set up from four years ago, so we just kept doing it every single year, and people love it.”

Bergman says there were people lining up outside before they got there, at least an hour before the doors opened.

-Katie Miller reporting for MTN News