Angel tree to provide gifts to 200 families
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on December 9, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Wayne County residents can take a child's name off one of several angel trees at the mall, K&W cafeteria, Wal-Mart, Olive Garden, Gold's Gym and other locations to provide gifts for a needy child.
Wayne County people have the opportunity to be Santa for the community's needy children, providing Christmas gifts through the Salvation Army's angel tree program.
Back in October, the Salvation Army took applications for more than 200 families with more than 400 children. And a few are still coming in due to emergencies.
The applications were put into the organization's system and angel tags filled out.
Each tag contains a child's first name, age, sex and a wish list of toys.
The clothing size is also on the tag.
Angel trees contain the name tags. They are located at Olive Garden, Berkeley Mall, K&W Cafeteria, Gold's Gym and Wal-Mart.
"You take a tag off the tree and go shopping for that child," said Lt. Sherrie Stokes with the Salvation Army. "Then you take the items and tag back to wherever you got it from. Or you can bring it to our office. Everything has to be unwrapped. And we ask that you don't buy gift cards or guns, unless they are the Nerf guns."
Mrs. Stokes said the community has been very receptive to the idea of angel trees.
"And we are constantly refilling the trees with tags," she said. "Items listed on each angel tag are just suggestions. You don't have to buy them all or you can buy something else."
But, most of the time, Mrs. Stokes said, people take a tag off the tree and return it with a bag filled with presents.
Lt. Phillip Stokes said the biggest need is the 10 to 12 age group.
"They're harder to shop for because of the stuff that they want," he said.
"So that age tends to be forgotten a lot of times."
Presents purchased specifically for an angel tree tag go only to the child whose name is on the tag.
If all the tags are not taken, the Salvation Army will use other resources to make sure all the children get presents.
That could be through a donation of toys by a business or other group.
Like the toy drive that Herman Park Center held that resulted in four huge boxes of about 300 toys being donated to the Salvation Army.
But sometimes the Salvation Army has to go out and buy toys to make sure each child has something.
"That takes away resources throughout the year," Mrs. Stokes said. "Our Christmas money is what actually lasts us the entire year. So when we have to go out and spend money on the toys, it takes those resources away that we could use the rest of the year."
The Christmas need is great this year, Mrs. Stokes said.
"A lot of parents are really depending on the angel tree program," she said.
"We've had quite a few cases this year that have said these are the only gifts their children are getting because of a certain situation like the loss of a job or a house burning down."
Mrs. Stokes also said the Salvation Army, through its prison ministry, has about eight families this year where one parent is incarcerated.
Their children, too, will receive toys for Christmas through the angel tree program.
Mrs. Stokes said this year is the first year a lot of the recipients have had to apply for Christmas assistance.
"We've seen a lot of single parents," she said. "We have a lot of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. I feel like if we weren't able to help as many children as we are, there would be a lot of children that would wake up Christmas morning with nothing under the tree. That should not happen to any child."
Not only will the children in each family receive toys and clothes for Christmas, but the family will also receive a food box of canned goods, vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce and other nonperishable items.
Distribution day will be Dec. 17 from 9 a.m. to noon at the old fire station on Ash Street downtown.
Volunteers are needed to help that day, getting items for each family and helping them to their car.
"It's going to be an amazing day," Mrs. Stokes said.
"The parents that are truly in need for their children, when they see the bags of gifts coming to them, there's going to be tears. There's going to be hugs. People are going to be excited. It's going to be a good day."