Angel Tree is Here!
We are preparing to make Christmas wishes come true for over 5,200 central Indiana children. Over the course of the next several days, parents and guardians who signed up their children for The Salvation Army's Angel Tree program will receive bags filled with Christmas gifts chosen specifically to match the needs and wants of each individual child.
The first distribution will take place on Friday, December 14 at the Ivy Tech campus in Noblesville. More than 400 children from 172 Hamilton County families will benefit from the Angel Tree program this year. Distribution begins at 8:15 a.m. and continues into the evening.
On Monday and Tuesday (December 17 and 18), the remaining 4,800 bags of toys, clothing, and other needed items, will be distributed to families at the primary Angel Tree headquarters, located in the former Marsh building at 2350 Broad Ripple Avenue. In addition to the filled Angel Tree bags, many children will also receive special items that were on their wish list, like bicycles, high chairs, beds, and even Christmas trees.
Families must financially qualify for the Angel Tree program, which doubled in size this year after the United Way's United Christmas Service was discontinued and The Salvation Army expanded its assistance program to help the families left without another option. The influx of families looking for Christmas assistance brought the total number of children up to 5,276, a record for central Indiana. The Salvation Army sat down with parents to determine their child's Christmas wishes and create a list of needs, like diapers, winter clothing, or shoes. Donors then "adopted" Angels at Angel Trees in local malls, through collective corporate or church adoptions, or online at SalvationArmyIndiana.org/AngelTree. The returned gifts underwent extensive quality checks and are now ready to go home and make Christmas special for more than 2,100 local families.