Salvation Army Toy Shop Comes Thru Big For Eagan Single Dad
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Salvation Army Toy Shop is the biggest toy shelf in the Twin Cities.
And this week, WCCO wants to show you why it is so important to more than 20,000 families.
At the Toy Shop set up at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, William Paul is filling up his bag.
Paul is a 24-year-old single father from Eagan. He has a 3-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy.
Even though the Paul family is clearly living on love, there's not much else.
It's not that he doesn't have a job -- he has two. He's a property manager and just picked up a side job at McDonalds. The problem is he makes too much money to get the help he needs.
"[An assistance program] told me I was over income by $70," Paul said. "I mean, $70?"
He sold off his car and TV to try and make any money he could. So when his thoughts turned to Christmas gifts, he reached out to the place that's been helping him with food -- the Salvation Army.
There's no income requirement at the Salvation Army Toy Shop, and each parent is allotted around five new gifts.
Mallory Birch works at the Toy Shop.
"A lot of the folks that we see, even on a daily basis through our social services offices, are working full time, sometimes two to three to four jobs," Birch said.
The Salvation Army Toy Shop gave away 116,000 new toys last year.
So where do they get the resources to cover all these expensive toys? Sometimes they have drives, some companies give them a cut rate and sometimes people just give them cash
"The most important thing for donors to know is that their toys are literally going to the Salvation Army, straight into the hands of families that need it," Birch said.
And on this day, Paul's were wide open – and so was his bag of gifts.
"Actually if it wasn't for today, we definitely would not have had gifts," Paul said.
But now he does, and so will his kids.
"I'm thankful for everybody that was in my corner down there, and I'm getting choked up a little bit," he said.
There will be an open Toy Shop day on Dec. 23 from 9 a.m. until noon at the University of Northwestern in Roseville. Click here for more information.
