A lot of people come up with wish lists for Christmas, but for homless and at-risk youths at Covenant House, all they want is to get out of a crisis situation.
"I'm 18, been through a lot," Dea'ja Hyde said.
Hyde is staying at the non-profit shelter on N. Rampart Street with her "best friend and whole world," her two-month-old son.
"The stuff that I couldn't get from my house I literally have again," Hyde said.
For 30 years, Covenant House has been a resource for homeless children and young adults all year long, but Christmas is a time where the staff goes out of their way to make residents feel right at home.
"I don't really have nobody and it's like being here with a group of people it's like being young again, having Christmas all over again," Hyde said.
Jane Helire leads education and vocational development at the shelter and says it takes an army of people to make residents feel the spirit on Christmas.
"It makes me feel so warm inside to know that people really do care," Helire said.
Lisa and Gary Chartier showed up Tuesday morning to drop off food that the Kiwanis Club of West Jefferson had left over from a delivery to a nursing home.
"Even on a Christmas Day, any day as long as you can help you make someone's day," Gary Chartier said.
And what a difference those small gifts can make.
"I feel like it's going to help me more and when I become a social worker I can help kids who are in homeless shelters and I can help them grow," Jemesha Smith said.
Leaders from Covenant House said operations like this will continue outside the season of giving.
Covenant House continues to take in donated clothes and dry goods to help residents year round, in addition, they're always in need of tax-deductible contributions.