The Salvation Army has numerous trees around the area called “Angel Trees,” which are designed for children to receive a gift to make their Christmas brighter.
Nathaniel Farnor, coordinator of leadership and civic engagement, is excited to see what this Christmas season has in store for many children in the area through the Angel Trees.
“It is an opportunity during the holiday season for community members, students, faculty and staff, churches and community groups to adopt children in the area who may need some extra assistance with gifts and needs during the holidays,” Farnor said.
The Angel Tree tradition is nothing new, as it has been around for some time. Farnor explained how the process worked for those who might want to participate.
“Individuals will find one of the Angel Trees. They will go up and get a tag from the tree,” Farnor said. “The tag will tell them a little bit about that child, such as their name, how old they are, some of their interests and clothing sizes.”
After picking a tag from the tree, participants would go out and find a gift that would bring the child joy, whether it be a toy, a jacket or even some ear warmers.
“It is a lot of fun for the people that adopt to just go to the store and pick out some items for the child,” Farnor said. “They drop them back off, and the children receive those gifts leading up to the holidays.”
The Angel Tree tradition has been on campus for several years, making little ones’ Christmas holidays even merrier each year. ETSU is a giving community, and that is why the tree will have to be restocked with new children waiting to be adopted out of the tree.
“The first tree we put up we started with fifty children,” Farnor said. “Those fifty children have been adopted out of the angel tree, so we are having to restock it.”
Farnor expects that 100 children will receive gifts by the Angel rtee just by the ETSU campus community alone.
If you would like to visit the campus Angel Tree, visit the D.P. Culp Student Center on the first floor outside of Starbucks.
If you would like to support the efforts of the Salvation Army Angel Tree, please email serve@etsu.edu.
