Never Miss a Chance to Do the Most Good
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Never Miss a Chance to Do the Most Good
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Smiles Make the Greatest Gifts
Providing physical needs such as grocery, utility and gift assistance,
to emotional experiences including holiday events and traditions.
Each year, The Salvation Army in Marathon County
helps more than 400 families with gifts for their kids
to open on Christmas morning.
Through the generosity of the community we live in, we are able to help support all of these families.
The Salvation Army in Marathon County teams up with Toys for Tots to help fulfill the need in our community.
How we help brighten the holidays
Toy Shop
This program was designed to help low-income families and to provide assistance with giving children a Christmas to remember. Families that are requesting assistance need to have placement, custody, or guardianship of the children in the home and must be a Marathon County resident. Offering intake appointments generally starts in October and goes through mid-December. Please watch our Facebook or Instagram sites for up-to-date information.
The first step to receiving assistance is intake. Families are asked to come in and sign up to get Christmas assistance. They must bring the following documentation:
- A form of ID for everyone in the household. This could be a driver's license, social security card, birth certificate, medical ID card, or school ID.
- One month's proof of income for everyone that receives income in the household
- A piece of mail with the current name and address. This can be a bill, a lease, junk mail, etc.
- Proper documentation will be needed if you have permanent or temporary custody, placement, or guardianship of a child that is not your own.
Did you miss the intake days? No worries you are still able to sign up at our 202 Callon Street location Monday - Friday From 8:30 am-1:00 pm. Just come in with all documentation and we will be happy to get you on the list.
Once you have completed the intake you will be given a date and time to come to the Toy Shop and shop for your children.
Christmas Volunteer Opportunities
Our Christmas assistance program has a variety of volunteer opportunities and ways companies can help us provide for families in need.
Intake Assistant
The Salvation Army needs intake assistants to help with registering families on our computers. The program is easy to use. We need extra hands to help get everyone registered in a timely manner. Please go to the link provided below to sign up.
Angel Tree
Angel Trees are set up at several business locations in the community. At these sites, there are Christmas trees with tags on them. Each tag is labeled boy or girl and has an age bracket and gift ideas. People can select a tag from the tree and help support a child for Christmas.
2022 Angel Tree Locations - return gifts by Dec. 16 (availability of tags may run out much earlier)
- Mike's 101 Pub
- Kocourek Subaru
- North Central Technical College
- Walmart in Rib Mountain
- Jim Clemens Insurance Agency, Schofield
By volunteering for this position you become an advocate for The Salvation Army. Two hours of your time will change the lives of so many kids. Go to the link below to sign up today. Tags are not individualized to a specific child. Parents shop in the Toy Shop, so they are able to choose the desired gifts for their child(ren) from what is available. We need volunteers to help promote the program and keep our tree filled, along with accepting the gifts when they are donated.
Toy Shop
The Toy Shop has a couple of different sign-up opportunities. This works well for groups and individuals to be involved in different ways. Volunteers must be 16 years and older. Toy Shop is set up at 103 S 2nd Ave, Wausau, WI 54401.
Toy Shop Set-Up
Help set up the toys in categories and make shopping easier on distribution days.
Personal Shopper Assistant
Help the families go through the Toy Shop and choose gifts for their children, keep things on track and running smoothly, or simply keep areas filled and stocked with toys. There are many ways to help!
Toy Shop Clean Up
Help pack and store the toys that are left over for use in other programs throughout the year.
Adopt-A Family
The Adopt-A-Family program is designed for businesses, groups, or individuals that want to sponsor a family from our list and add an extra special touch. When you adopt a family, you are given information on that family as to needs and wants and you supply them with the gifts and food basket of your choice. You can stay anonymous or you can also deliver to your family.
How do you Adopt-A-Family?
Please contact Colleen Hilber at 715-845-4272 ext. 115 or email: colleen.hilber@usc.salvationarmy.org. Once you have contacted us, we will send you the proper paperwork to identify the size of the family and the number of families you would like to adopt. Through intake appointments where families that signed up are vetted and eligible to be adopted, we will send you all the needed information to begin your shopping.
