Christmas Box Houses offer shelter, food, on-site therapy, medical and dental evaluations, classrooms, and recreational activities.
The Christmas Box Houses, also known as “emergency children’s shelters,” were built in three Utah cities: Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Moab. The Christmas Box Houses offer shelter, food, on-site therapy, medical and dental evaluations, classrooms, and recreational activities.
Each of the three houses serves the communities, based on their unique needs and the carefully cultivated partnerships in each region.
Our Christmas Box Resource Rooms are stocked with donated NEW supplies including clothing, bedding, baby items, school and hygiene kits, books, household items and toys.
By partnering with other nonprofits, The Christmas Box International ensures that these resources serve children and teens staying at The Christmas Box Houses and Division of Youth Services Group Homes, youth currently in foster care and aging out of foster care, children receiving in-home services and children being raised by relatives. The Christmas Box Resource Rooms depend heavily on the support of volunteers and members of the local community.
Check out our resource room locations in Utah by clicking here.
If you would like to help the children coming to our emergency shelters, or are otherwise in need, please see our Wish Lists. By purchasing and donating items from our Wish Lists, you can and will reach children, teens and young adults across the state, children whom you would never otherwise have any opportunity to help.
Maximizing Every Donation, Strengthening Every Community
Each year, our small but mighty team processes over $800,000 worth of in-kind donations—all with one goal: to ensure that no donation goes to waste and every item gets into the hands of a child or family in need as quickly as possible.
Our first priority is resourcing our Christmas Box Emergency Shelters, followed by stocking our Christmas Box Resource Rooms, which serve 21 of Utah’s 29 counties. Items may remain on our shelves for up to eight months as we work to meet the immediate needs of children and families.
When donations are not utilized within that time frame, we extend their impact by sharing them with 113 trusted community partners across Utah—including county and state agencies and fellow nonprofit organizations. By working together, we multiply our collective reach and reinforce the safety nets surrounding our most vulnerable populations.
We believe generosity is most powerful when it’s shared. Through collaboration, we build stronger, more resilient communities—one donation at a time.
Each year, The Christmas Box International’s Transitioning to Adult Living Program supports more than 1,500 young people, ages 14 to 22, who are aging out of foster care or facing homelessness. These youth confront the overwhelming challenge of adulthood—often without the stable support systems many of us take for granted.
In collaboration with state and county agencies, we connect them to vital community resources and provide move-in kits filled with household essentials to help furnish their first apartments. These efforts are designed to empower, uplift, and remind them that they are not alone on this journey.
Because every young person deserves more than survival.
They deserve a place to belong—and a foundation to thrive.
The Christmas Box International provides resources to children in countries such as Kenya, Colombia, India, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala and Ghana. We serve children internationally, by distributing in-kind donations such as hygiene items, clothing, toys and school supplies to volunteer organizations working in those regions.
