The “store” at the Boys & Girls Club of Warwick’s Norwood location officially opened yesterday, beginning a heartwarming process which will allow 75 struggling families to provide a prosperous Christmas and holiday season to their families through the generosity of others.

The idea to collect donations throughout the holiday season and then set up those gifts by category, from toys and dolls to sports items and various types of clothing for all ages, started when Boys & Girls Club executive director Lara D’Antuono had her first child, her daughter Bianca, in 2003.

“I thought this is so wonderful, I get to pick out her gifts and give them to her,” D’Antuono recalled. “And I realized that a lot of the parents that we help and serve don’t get to have that same experience. They don’t get to see the gifts, feel them, pick them up, buy them and give them.”

She said that providing parents and relatives a place to come and physically pick out 8-10 gifts to give personally to their families creates a much happier holiday, and provides more dignity to the parents than charitable endeavors which may just deliver them gifts already wrapped, sometimes unaware of what is even inside of them.

Every 20 minutes yesterday, today and tomorrow (the 20th, 21st and 22nd), families in the club’s network get the chance to come through and pick out presents of all types. They don’t pay a dime.

This year, D’Antuouno got some additional help from The Rhode Island Foundation, which donated $3,000 to help buy additional clothing and the Warwick Police Department, whose community outreach program and Explorers youth program set up shop outside the city’s Walmarts and Toys R’ Us to collect donations and toys.

“This has been a longstanding tradition through the Explorers,” said community outreach officer Geoff Waldman. “I’m happy to continue the tradition…This is a great way to give back and make a positive impact on peoples’ lives.”

Also on scene Wednesday was the local operations managers for the Rhode Island branches of FedEx, who joined in on the giving and set up giving trees at their locations. All in all, they adopted four full families to give gifts and filled about 50 tags with requests for presents. They will be delivering their portion of the gifts to families on Friday.

The Boys & Girls Club received additional help from the Gregg’s Restaurant Giving Tree program, which collected around 40,000 gifts this year and distributes them to many different charitable organizations and community establishments. They collected their own donations throughout the season as well.

All in all, the store at the Warwick Boys & Girls Club will help ensure that 75 families have a happier holiday than they would have otherwise, with lots of good-quality gifts for them to distribute to their loved ones during the festive season. D’Atuono said they normally can only supply enough presents for about 50 families, but the help this year has been extraordinary.