When I was younger, my mother and I would get an Angel off of the Angel Tree and pick out some gifts give them to these angels. I've known about the program for a few years, but didn't realize exactly how big it was until recently or that it was headed by the salvation army. Last year, a co-worker and I were chatting and thought it would be a good idea to have a Christmas "giving back" drive that the office took part in. We discussed toys-for-tots, and angel tree. I personally like angel tree better because you are actually buying gifts for one person. Well it was actually Christmas time last year when we thought about this, and it was to late. So the plan had been in place to act this holiday season.
We collected donations from the office and went out on a great hunting mission for toys for our two angels. It was quite the experience navigating through the toy aisles, when you haven't looked through them in years and all of these toys are foreign. We ended up finding a bunch of toys and hope that the two angels we chose have a wonderful Christmas.
A higher power:
While getting ready for work last Sunday I was listening to the radio, I heard the salvation army talking about the angel tree program and the volunteers that they needed. Now this was interesting, because 1. I don't usually even like the news radio shows on Sunday morning's, so usually don't listen to the radio. and 2. I'm only up and listening to the radio between 7 and 8 AM when I'm on a short term forecast shift. While listening, I learned a little more about the program and what was needed. With me going into evenings, I decided I could and wanted to help volunteer. I did just that.
The never ending rows:
I didn't have any idea what I was getting myself into, and that usually brings about a certain amount of fear/uncertainty/uncomfortableness. I knew that if I just did it I would enjoy it, so I pushed through. I arrived and had no idea which door to go in, let alone what I would find inside. I found this HUGE warehouse filled with rows and rows of trash bags, numbered and filled with toys for families. There were over 4000 families. The need was great! I couldn't even see the end, because it went into another room. I was paired up with another gentleman that arrived when I did. Our job was to make sure everyone 14 and under had gifts in the family. So we got numbers and started walking around to those families number and checking. If a child had not been fulfilled, we would go "shopping" in the donated toy area for a few toys to give to them. Then we would mark them as complete and move on to the next.
4000 families...wow. I am glad that I was able to help out for the little bit of time I did. I enjoyed fulfilling the gift of Christmas for these families. I can only hope that it brings a smile to these kid's faces.
I cannot wait to take part again next year, except this time I'll know exactly what I'm getting myself into, and be ready and maybe able to volunteer more.
If you have the opportunity to take an Angel off of an Angel Tree, please consider it. It is a wonderful way to give back to those in the community.
Love
