Empty Stocking Fund

The first Christmas story introduced the world to a family of three facing uncertain times. This holiday, Calvary Presbyterian Church gives us another.

Claudia Griffith of Charlotte learned the hard way this month that there are firm deadlines for community programs that help low-income families get toys at Christmas.

Robert Moeller started the tradition in memory of his wife, Madeline, who died in 1975. Each year, when the family gathered for Christmas, he asked his four children to donate money to the Empty Stocking Fund.

Salvation Army bell ringers are short of the five golden rings in the classic holiday carol, but not by much.

The Salvation Army is reporting a toy shortage for kids ages 1-3 at the Christmas Bureau, which runs through Thursday.

Nonprofit A Child's Place is having volunteers wrap the hundreds of gifts it is passing out this year as part of its holiday program for homeless families.

Nothing will come close to fixing what happened to Charlie and Angelia St. Clair. But cheer one man's hard work and love for his wife and children.

Crystal Sinclair of Charlotte had prayers that needed answering Friday morning. So the mother of two got up at 4:30 a.m., threw on clothes that she’d laid out the night before, and drove to the Salvation Army’s Christmas Bureau on East Arrowood Road.

One of the busiest toy stores in the nation opens today on East Arrowood Road in south Charlotte, and if all goes as planned, it’ll be out of business by Thursday.

Isaiah Vaughn is 5 years old, deaf and doesn’t understand much of what his mother says. So he was terrified when she packed his stuff, drove two hours east to Morganton, and left him in the care of the N.C. School for the Deaf.

All-female Good Friends charity couldn't have picked better time to eclipse important $2.5 million milestone in money it has raised to help working poor. It came Tuesday during club's 25th anniversary luncheon.

The Empty Stocking Fund had nearly 6,500 donors last year, including two bridge clubs, a tropical fruit and nut company, and something listed only as 'the Moeller Christmas Party.'

Four years ago, Janice Walker's daughter was going through a seemingly perfect pregnancy, and Walker was expecting her grandson to arrive in January - a New Year's baby.

At first, Krystal Melendez was a healthy baby. That lasted until she was about 6 weeks old.

It's a holiday with a well-earned reputation for both the expensive and the frivolous.

A Christmas wish landed right in Pamela Johnson's lap. That would be her great-niece, Serenity Ramsey.

After flying B-24 bomber missions over the Himalayas during World War II and finishing Wake Forest law school, Paul Bell returned to his native Charlotte in 1948 to practice with the late Paul Eaton.

The Salvation Army's Christmas Bureau has more than its share of potentially overwhelming tasks for volunteers, but Boy Scout Troop 118 easily tackled one of the more unusual jobs this week.

Parents raising someone else's children is the big trend this year among the 7,000 families who've asked for help from the Salvation Army's Christmas Bureau.

Eleven-year-old Ja'Teruis Boyd wants only one thing for Christmas this year: for his family to be together and happy.

As a girl during the Great Depression, Dana Woody's mother never imparted the wisdom of giving back to people in need - she just did it.

Malaina Jackson doesn't have children, so she seldom bothers with holiday hubbub like putting up a Christmas tree.

Early in their 45-year marriage, Dick and Beth Lunney took in two foster children. One of the boys was later adopted by a family. The other, Dick suspects, probably remained in foster care the rest of his childhood.

Christmas with three kids in a weekly rate hotel. Lisa Anthony never imagined it would happen to her, because she has a full-time job as an administrative assistant.

Andre Carter was laid off from his job as a maintenance worker in September, and things are starting to unravel.

Mary Hardge is single, living on disability and raising five grandchildren who, she says, were left in her care.

Santa will keep promises to 13,701 low-income children this Christmas, if the Salvation Army succeeds in pulling off what has become Charlotte’s biggest annual holiday miracle.

The rest of the choir is already singing when Cora Bowen walks in. She's late to rehearsal; a trip to the doctor. She doesn't feel good. For a minute or two she just stands there, not singing.