The Trinity Thrift Store will hold its annual Christmas sale this weekend and early next week. All proceeds will benefit the Trinity Food Pantry in Lehighton, which serves needy families in the Lehighton Area School District.

This year's sale will take place on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church's Luther Hall. The Thrift Store will also be open normal hours, including Saturday and Tuesday, during the Christmas sale.The sale is run entirely by volunteers. Every dollar spent will be passed on to the Trinity Food Pantry, which currently feeds 450 to 500 families each month."It is so expensive to purchase the food," said thrift store manager Kay Patterson, who like her co-workers is a volunteer. "We are very fortunate here, that we have the thrift store to supplement the pantry each month."Other pantries are not as lucky and they are struggling. They are making do but are hand to mouth each month, so to speak," she added.It costs the Trinity Pantry approximately $8,000 each month to operate. The thrift store provides more than $30,000 to the Lehighton pantry each year.As in past years, the sale will feature an assortment of Christmas ornaments, indoor and outdoor decorations, artificial trees and wreaths, children's toys, clothing for adults and children, jewelry, cards, books, candles and a variety of snowmen, angels and Santas."We have a number of porcelain dolls this year with real hair," Patterson said. "We also have a large selection of infant and baby items such as infant seats and swings that would work well for someone who is currently expecting, and rocking horses and riders for slightly older children."There are also several gently used kitchen appliances available for purchase at approximately half off retail price.She said the new appliances would make a good Christmas present, or a nice gift for yourself.Patterson thanked the people who shop at the store's Christmas sale each year and those who stop by the thrift store year-round.She said it takes a tremendous amount of community support to raise their needed funds, one discounted purchase at a time."We might charge $3 for a shirt, or $3 for a sweater, or $3 for a pair of pants, and they're often on sale for less," she said, noting that the store raised a record $40,000 last year."That's a lot of shirts," she said.Trinity Lutheran Church is located at 175 S. Third St. in Lehighton.