INDIANAPOLIS — Despite the pandemic hitting small business hard, several local families will have a good Christmas, thanks to the owners of Hangtime Indy.
The business and their employees selected a dozen families to bless with gifts, food and a shopping spree.
Hangtime scaled back its Christmas giveaway from previous years due to the pandemic. In the past, the store has invited 25 to 30 families for a giveaway and shopping spree.
They treated the families to a safe and socially-distanced holiday program before taking families on separate shopping sprees for toys.
"We were very strict about the social distancing rules," said owner Monty Ramadan. "We wore masks and so did the children. We were able to invite in three families at a time and then escorted them in vans to Walmart for their shopping spree to buy toys and gifts."
Ramadan and his brother are the founders of Hangtime. They started giving back to the community several years ago. They have partnered with popular radio personality B-Swift from Hot 96.3 to help make the Hangtime Christmas Help event a success.
The families are selected each year based on need.
13News asked the store owners what it means to be able to help families who are struggling this time of year.
"We do this from the heart. We are still in 2020 right? There are families who are still living in garages, families that are living in shelters, families that are living off kerosene," Ramadan said. "Aside from business, as a human, it's sad. But it puts a smile on my face."
During the summer, in the middle of the pandemic, Hangtime sold a line of designer face masks and donated the proceeds to their campaign to help families struggling to pay utility bills.
Ramadan said Hangtime continues to give back since the community supports their two Indianapolis stores. The brothers own stores at 56th Street and Georgetown Road on Indy's northwest side and at 38th and N. Meridian streets, just north of downtown Indy.
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At the onset of the pandemic, the 38th Street store was shut down. They made a tough business decision to use the downtime to remodel and give customers a new kind of shopping experience. It has since reopened.
The brothers also take pride in keeping a staff of young people gainfully employed even as business slowed during the pandemic.
Ramadan and his brother are already thinking of ways they can help make 2021 better for families who may need help making ends meet.
