By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Throughout July, the TCBY store in the Pelham Towne Center shopping center will be celebrating Christmas several months early in an effort to help Alabamians who may not otherwise have a holiday season in the wake of the April 27 tornado outbreak.

Through the end of the month, the store off Huntley Parkway will be filled with Christmas trees, ornaments and music usually reserved for the last month of the year. On July 16, the store will serve eggnog-flavored yogurt and offer pictures with Santa Claus.

During the month of events, the store will be looking to raise money to help those hit by the tornadoes, especially during the upcoming Christmas season.

“I have a personal interest in this, because my family is from the Pleasant Grove area,” said store owner Tara Howard. “Our object is to help the community recover from the storms.”

A portion of the month’s sales will benefit local nonprofit organizations, such as the William Tucker Lowe Fund at Regions Bank, which is raising money to help a 7-year-old who lost his mother in the storm.

The store will also be accepting donations all month, and will donate money raised during pictures with Santa to groups such as Alabama’s Lost Birthdays, which is helping children who lost everything in the tornadoes.

Nearly every day this month, the store will feature a different item of which 50 percent of the purchase price will benefit storm victims. The store is also offering online coupons which allow customers to donate their savings to a non-profit organization.

In addition to monetary donations, the store will also be collecting ornaments and stockings for the “Christmas in Dixie for Tornado Survivors” organization and toys, coloring books and other children’s items for the Alabaster-based “Shoe Boxes for Kids” organization.

For more details about the month-long fundraiser, visit Tcby.com/Pelham, or Facebook.com/tcbypelham.