Delivering Angel Tree Gifts in the Spirit of Christmas
Each year our church hosts a Salvation Army Angel Tree. This year our tree had 132 angels and church members picked their angels very quickly. In fact I didn’t even get a chance to choose one this time! Instead I volunteered to help sort and transport all of the wrapped gifts to the Salvation Army depot.
I met with the other members of our missions committee last Friday. It was a joy to see all of the gifts that had been brought for the kids. The church office was overflowing with gifts and many more were in the sanctuary beneath our main Christmas tree.
Mike, who has organized the Angel Tree project for several years, had his clipboard in hand checking off names and gifts to make sure that all of the angel sponsors had brought their gifts in. I started calling out the angel numbers from the tags on the presents and he would check them off. This made the checking process go pretty quickly.
At one point our chruch’s grand pipe organ which was just a few feet away, suddenly started playing. That startled us to say the least and I had to yell for awhile to be heard over it. That organ can be very LOUD, especially as in this instance when our organist Kiyo and his wife Chiemi are both playing. Of course when they stopped playing I was still yelling for a moment.
As I was checking the packages I noticed how some of the children would be getting several presents from their angel sponsor. I imagined the children’s faces as they open the gifts on Christmas morning.
Troy and Kyle started loading up the packages that had been checked off into the trailer. When all the packages were accounted for I joined them in finishing up. We drove over to the warehouse that was housing all of the Salvation Army gifts and unloaded them. Now those gifts, lovingly selected and wrapped, along with all the other special presents await delivery to the little angels.
Spending just a couple of hours on the Angel Tree really helped me get into the Christmas spirit!
This post is part of the Bloggers Unite project.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Sandra,
The first time I donated to an angel tree was through my church. It felt so good to see the gifts piling up under the tree. I knew some children would have a great Christmas because of the efforts of my church. I was hooked and have participated every year since. Great work. Wonderful post.
Best Wishes,
Lisa
December 18th, 2007 at 1:44 am
This is really lovely
December 18th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Thanks for visiting and thanks for the comments! Yes you can really get “hooked” on giving.
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December 25th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Sandra,
This year I had families that a couple of the Presbyterian churches sponsored. I learned that churches can be SO-O-O generous. I had the families sign a release if it was okay for some of the church members to deliver the gifts to them. Two of the families got a visit from the youth group of one of the churches. The next day, church members got word of the families and gave MORE. One little girl got a bicycle. Another family who had asked/wished/hoped for a TV (they had 6 kids) had a church member offer to pay for cable for them for a year. This was amazing for me to see the churches hearts just open up!! Hopefully, this will last throughout the year
December 27th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Sandra, I salute you and your church. Helping the less fortunate is an important aspect of living. Helping others during the month of December makes people feel the love of God.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Hi Jamie, thanks for the comment… When the giver and recipient actually get to meet it can be even more meaningful for everyone. Glad to hear that everyone was so blessed in your giving circle. Merry Christmas!
December 30th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Hi Sandra, I’m going to be brave and ask my embarrassing question. What exactly does an angel tree mean? Is each of the 132 angels someone’s wish list and the person who takes that angel buys the gifts? I’m sure it is something like that but was curious the exact logistics…Happy New Year!
December 31st, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Hi Sharani, actually a good question, I’m sure there’s lots of areas that don’t have angel trees. Each angel is a disadvantaged child whose Santa wish list is on their angel tree card ornament. It usually also lists the child’s first name and age. People choose the cards and then buy gifts, wrap them and return to the tree location.
The Salvation Army local affiliates run the program and with help from other agencies select children in need to receive gifts; those who may not have gifts otherwise. I’ve seen other organizations run angel trees too. It makes it easy for individuals to do something to directly help someone else.
It does take quite a bit of volunteer work and organization on the part of the charity, especially if there are multiple trees and many recipients. In our city I think we had 2000 kids. All the organizations that had trees (like our church) were responsible for making sure that all the kids on our lists had gifts (that’s why we were checking off the gifts vs. the list.) All the groups deliver their gifts to a central location and then are distributed on a particular day. Each angel has a number and the organizers sort the gifts so that when the parent come to pick them up they can find them easily. I wish I could have been at the depot for the actual gift distribution. Maybe next year!
January 1st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
thanks for the details Sandra. This is a very worthy and excellent concept. I adopted a family through a local business but just gave money and I think the company was going to purchase the actual items on their wish list. I like the idea of directly buying what a child has/family has requested.
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February 27th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Always good to see people giving back. Nice work
April 7th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Sandra,
I think the only way children can grow into responsible, caring, emotionally generous adults is by being exposed to love and charity like this. This post has a beautiful message. Thanks for sharing this - I recently starting doing a similar event with my company this past Christmas and I have to say I just feel great about it.
Best,
Rick
May 12th, 2008 at 5:59 am
I did something similar for work. We generally have three trees - one for the kids, one for the local nursing home and one for the dogs home. Ir’s always a success because there are so many willing to give.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I just came across your post and I had to think it would be nice if we could have an angel tree year round and not just at Christmas. I think it might be neat to set up an “angel birthday tree” maybe for children who have a hard time enjoying their birthdays. Just a thought, wonder what others think of this
June 5th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I agree, Sandra - giving gifts is addicting! I also think angel trees are a great way to strengthen fellowship within a church and the surrounding community. I also like Jaki’s idea of setting up an angel birthday tree year-round (or during the summer.)
June 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I love the idea of “angel birthday tree”. Kids at church must love it. What do you think, Sandra?
July 17th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Thsi is a lovely idea, and I’m glad I came across your blog in plenty of time to suggest it at my church for next Christmas.
Thanks, Sherri
July 18th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Thanks Sherri, glad you enjoyed the post.