VOA时事新闻2023 免费玩具店帮助贫困家庭（在线收听）

免费玩具店帮助贫困家庭

Four years ago, country music star Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, helped create a free food store in Nashville, Tennessee.

四年前，乡村音乐明星布拉德·佩斯利和他的妻子——女演员金伯利·威廉姆斯-佩斯利——在田纳西州纳什维尔帮助创办了一家免费食品店。

Their goal was to give families in need the ability to choose their own food in a place that felt like a normal store.

他们的目标是让有需要的家庭能够在一个感觉像普通商店的地方选择自己的食物。

They named it The Store.

他们把它命名为The Store。

The Store is a partnership with Nashville's Belmont University, where Paisley earned his degree.

The Store与纳什维尔的贝尔蒙特大学合作，佩斯利就是在那里获得学位的。

The Store is turning into a free toy store ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The Store将会在圣诞节假期前变成一家免费玩具店。

The event began Friday.

该活动于周五开始。

For two days, chosen families could pick out new toys, video games, stuffed animals, makeup and other gifts.

在两天的时间里，被选中的家庭可以挑选新玩具、视频游戏、布绒玩具、化妆品和其他礼物。

Paisley said, "The emotional aspect of being able to give your child something your child wanted versus just something to sort of get you through the holidays…that's such a load off the minds of somebody who maybe didn't think they were going to be able to do that."

佩斯利说：“能够给孩子想要的东西所获得的情感价值比只是度过假期的高，因为那让那些可能认为自己无法做到这一点的人松了一口气。”

Paisley and Williams-Paisley brought the idea of a free food store to Nashville after seeing a similar effort in California.

佩斯利和威廉姆斯-佩斯利在加州看到类似的活动后，将开一家免费食品店的想法带到了纳什维尔。

The Store launched in early 2020.

The Store于2020年初开业。

Its opening came just weeks after a powerful tornado hit the area and shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

就在商店开业几周前（在新冠疫情开始前不久），一场强大的龙卷风袭击了该地区。

The pandemic made food access an urgent problem.

新冠疫情使获取食物成为一个紧迫的问题。

The Store changed its methods to meet people's needs.

The Store为了满足人们的需求改变了方法。

It turned into a food delivery service for older people.

它变成了一种面向老年人的送餐服务。

It delivered one million meals in its first year of operation.

它在运营的第一年就送出了100万份餐食。

Along with the food store, Belmont University also offers additional services to families in need.

除了食品店，贝尔蒙特大学还为有需要的家庭提供额外的服务。

They include financial education and music therapy.

其中包括金融教育和音乐治疗。

"People come on hard times and we want this to be a safe, welcoming place for everybody, whether you're volunteering or whether you're needing the services," Williams-Paisley said.

威廉姆斯-佩斯利说：“人们在困难时期来到这里，我们希望这里对每个人来说都是一个安全、友好的地方，无论你是志愿者还是需要服务的人。”

"It's just a community and we're all in it together."

“这里只是一个社区，我们都在其中。”

For this year's toy store event, The Store received about 2,000 donated objects and raised $20,000.

在今年的玩具商店活动中，The Store收到了大约2000件捐赠物品，筹集了2万美元。

Volunteers and workers from Belmont University in Nashville spent hours opening and organizing all of the donated toys into different areas.

来自纳什维尔贝尔蒙特大学的志愿者和工作人员花了几个小时打开和整理所有捐赠的玩具，并将其分配到不同的区域。

Parents will be able to drop off their kids at a religious center nearby, where they can play and drink a hot chocolate.

父母可以把孩子送到附近的宗教中心，在那里他们可以玩耍和喝巧克力热饮。

The adults can pick out gifts at the same time.

大人们同时也可以挑选礼物。

Paisley said Christmas is his favorite time of year.

佩斯利说，圣诞节是他一年中最喜欢的时间。

He said he might even visit The Store dressed as Santa Claus, the make-believe person who brings gifts for children on Christmas.

他说，他甚至可能会打扮成圣诞老人的样子去The Store，圣诞老人是在圣诞节给孩子们送礼物的虚构人物。

"I live for this time of year," Paisley said.

佩斯利说：“我为一年中的这个时候而活”。

"Ever since we've had children and possibly even before, I kind of go all out."

“自从我们有了孩子，甚至可能在这之前，我就全力以赴了。”