Thanks to local non-profit FailSafe-ERA, families affected by incarceration can enjoy some holiday cheer this year. The annual Holiday Shoppe was held on Dec. 18 at the Fredericksburg Convention Center near Central Park and offered toys, school supplies, clothing for children and a shopping bag of food for families. This is the sixth year FailSafe-ERA has held the event.
“We are providing an opportunity for families to come out and shop at no cost to them,” FailSafe-ERA CEO Juanita Shanks said. “Thanks to community donations to Toys For Tots, we are able to provide a Christmas experience for 43 families and 145 kids.”
FailSafe-ERA partnered with donors and organizations to make the event possible. Donations were collected from individuals and the Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots program so that parents could take home two or three toys for each child. The non-profit Community Threads provided new and gently used clothing and shoes for the participants. New Restoration Outreach Church assembled bags of groceries for each family. Gift cards were also donated by community members.
FailSafe-ERA advocates for families of incarcerated people by helping men and women released from jails and prison with reentry, including scholarships for continued education and training. They also support the children of incarcerated people with education and coping skills programs.
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For more information about FailSafe-ERA or to make a donation, visit the organization’s website.
Participants for the Holiday Shoppe were recruited through these programs, by referrals from social services, and by word of mouth from other families of incarcerated people.
Charisma Saunders was one of the shoppers. Her husband was one of the first formerly incarcerated men to go through the Right Road Reentry program, and she has volunteered with FailSafe-ERA herself. She was shopping for her four children.
“They really need clothes,” said Saunders, “but anything is helpful. It’s a blessing.”
“Our organization works with families that have been impacted by incarceration … and training in the jails,” Shanks added. “We work with parolees and update them on a weekly basis. In general our organization is a reentry organization so we have returning citizens that work with us on a daily basis. We also find families through social services and other organizations. They registered back in August and became beneficiaries of our Christmas Shoppe.”
