The value of a gift
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on November 23, 2016 10:06 AM
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News-Argus/BECKY BARCLAY
Talasha Armwood picks a name tag off the Salvation Army Angel Tree located at Wal-Mart where she works. She said she knows how important the Angel Tree is because when she was a young girl in a single-parent family with three siblings, she would not have had Christmas some years if not for the Salvation Army.
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News-Argus/BECKY BARCLAY
Armwood selects a name off the Salvation Army Angel Tree at WalMart.
Talasha Armwood grew up in a single-parent home with three siblings.
Her mother wanted to give her children all she could, but times were hard.
Money, always scarce, was especially so around Christmas.
"Back then, we knew the situation. My mom was always honest with us," the 43-year-old Ms. Armwood said. "So we didn't expect anything for Christmas."
But that changed when the Salvation Army stepped in to help during the holidays to make sure the children had some toys at Christmas time.
The organization does that through its annual Angel Tree program. Angel Trees containing the names of Wayne County's needy children have been placed throughout the county. People stop by a tree, pick a name off, purchase gifts for that boy or girl and return them to the Salvation Army.
"If we didn't have the Salvation Army support, we probably wouldn't have gotten anything for Christmas," Ms. Armwood said. "I remember about the age of 12 or 13, my sister and me got baby dolls. That was something we always wanted, but when you don't have the money, you can't get it."
Back then, Ms. Armwood's family didn't even have a Christmas tree that they could have put gifts under -- had they been able to afforded any.
"But we had our own little section on the couch where we would get our little gifts, and it made us feel good to know we had something. It made our day.
"It was just knowing that we had somebody out there supporting kids like us. It meant a lot to us. And it meant a lot to my mom."
Because of that experience, Ms. Armwood contacted the local Salvation Army this year and asked for an Angel Tree to be put at Wal-Mart on Spence Avenue, where she works.
Ms. Armwood has already picked two names off Wal-Mart's Angel Tree -- a boy and a girl.
"Now that we have the Angel Tree here, it helps us help somebody else," she said. "I know how hard it is and how people are struggling. We just had the hurricane and a lot of people lost everything. This is something we can do to help them.
"Think about how you would feel if it was you and how would you feel on Christmas morning if you didn't have anything."
In addition to Wal-Mart, Angel Trees are up at Berkeley Mall, Olive Garden, K&W Cafeteria and Gold's Gym.
Applications have been taken from local people needing help. The Angel Trees are for children from birth through 12.
Not just anyone can say he or she needs help at Christmas.
"We take the ID, Social Security card and birth certificate to prove that that's their children and that the children are in the household," said Lt. Sherrie Stokes with the Salvation Army. "We look at their income versus their expenses. We also take into consideration if they've been approved for Medicaid and food stamps. It's a process."
Someone may need help this year for the first time due to a lot of things, Mrs. Stokes said.
"A lot of time, life happens," she said. "Someone might die. You might lose a job.
"We had a lady come in who had been pregnant and the baby wasn't due until Thanksgiving," Mrs. Stokes said.
The woman ended up having the child in September and spent a full week in the hospital and had to quit work a month early, she said.
The baby was only three pounds. So now she's been out of work for two months right before Christmas.
Life happens.
"We understand that because the Salvation Army is all about second chances," Mrs. Stokes said.
Currently, the Salvation Army has about 200 families needing assistance this Christmas, but that number will grow due to emergency cases that come in.
When a family applies for help, the Salvation Army makes tags that resemble angels and on those they write the child's first name, age, if it's a boy or girl and all his or her sizes. And they ask for the child's wish list.
Shoppers can then take a name off the Angel Tree, buy gifts and return them either to where the tree is located or to the Salvation Army at 610 N. William St. Gifts must be unwrapped.
However, you can purchase tape, wrapping paper and name tags and return them with the gifts.
Sometimes, civic groups, churches and businesses adopt as many as 30 children, Mrs. Stokes said.
Not all of the "angels" get taken each year, so the Salvation Army does what it can to provide toys for them. Mrs. Stokes said a lot of times, people will be too busy to take a tag. They will purchase a lot of toys and give them to the Salvation Army to distribute. Monetary donations also help.
The deadline for returning gifts is Dec. 9.
Each year the Spokes Group of Eastern North Carolina donates bicycles for the children for the Christmas program and will do so again this year.
The Salvation Army is also taking donations of food to provide each family with a Christmas meal.
"We have a lot of vegetables already," Mrs. Stokes said.
"Some of the items we're really lacking are stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy -- those staples during the Christmas season that you like to go with your holiday meal. And we could always use turkeys."
Distribution day will be Dec. 16 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"The greatest opportunity that we get is while we're taking the applications to sit down and really talk with these moms and dads or guardians and hear their story and what they've been going through," Mrs. Stokes said.
"Then when you see them on distribution day, there are lots of tears that are shed, a lot of thank yous and a lot of hugs because they're so appreciative. And we couldn't do it with this community."