Photo by Lexi Coon.
For those who are too tired after finishing their Christmas shopping to wrap all of their gifts, Family Promise of Birmingham is here to help.
Starting Dec. 1 and running through Dec. 24, a team of volunteers with the non-profit organization will offer their services to wrap your gifts. The shop is located in Brookwood Village across from Journeys.
The event was started in 1998 as a way to raise money for the organization.
“It was our very first fundraiser ever,” said executive director Rana Cowan. “We wanted to raise awareness of families experiencing homelessness, and we needed to fund our program.”
The fundraiser operates strictly on donations, and shoppers are asked to give an amount appropriate for the size and number of gifts that are wrapped. All proceeds then go to Family Promise of Birmingham, formerly known as the Birmingham Hospitality Network, an organization that helps house families through a series of 15 congregations in the metro area.
“We serve husbands and wives with children, single dads with children and women with older sons that may not be able to go to the women’s shelters,” said Cowan. “[Shoppers] can know that they are helping homeless families in our community remain together, and they get their gifts wrapped beautifully without the time, trouble and mess of doing it at home.”
The Family Promise of Birmingham gift wrapping center will be open during normal mall hours through the month of December.
