Last-minute donations sought for Angel Tree

The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn BOX IT UP: Jill Lacomfer, left, coordinator for the Salvation Army Angel Tree program, and volunteer Shannon Parker work to fill up boxes with clothing and gifts for children in the community at Coco Beverage on Wednesday. Distribution to families will take place on Saturday at the warehouse.
The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn BOX IT UP: Jill Lacomfer, left, coordinator for the Salvation Army Angel Tree program, and volunteer Shannon Parker work to fill up boxes with clothing and gifts for children in the community at Coco Beverage on Wednesday. Distribution to families will take place on Saturday at the warehouse.

The Salvation Army will distribute boxes from the Angel Tree program by appointment from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, but there are still 50 to 60 adopted angels that have not been returned, along with about 30 that were never adopted.

"Our deadline was last Sunday and we really saw an influx of people show up to the tree and take an angel," said Major Tina McBride. "There were only a handful of angels still on the tree after that, but we've still got so many that were adopted this year that we haven't seen any returned donations for."

Anyone who adopted a child from the Angel Tree and hasn't returned items from their wishlist to be boxed up can still return items through noon Friday at The Salvation Army office, 115 Crescent Ave.

"If anyone is interested in just buying bulk clothing for children in all sizes, we can match those things to a child, or they can still call up to the office and get matched with a specific child," she said. "But we also always need things for children in the 10 to 12 age group. They are the hardest to shop for because they tend to ask for more expensive things. But handheld games and small electronics are always something on their lists."

According to her husband, Major Jonathan McBride, the community has really stepped up to the challenge in the last few days as there were 200 remaining, unadopted angels on Dec. 10.

"People have been wanting to know how many are left, and after this weekend, it's not a huge number," he said. "But whether there are a couple hundred or just a handful around this time, we want to make sure we've got every one accounted for."

Monetary donations are always welcome to help volunteers with the program shop for necessary items to fill every box, he said.

"We're kind of Santa and Mrs. Claus this time of year with the help of many wonderful volunteers who go out and shop for these children to fill in those gaps," he said. "We saw more people this weekend and we saw donations coming in heavily not only at the mall, but also at the office and that's a good thing. We're wading through toys, but there's still plenty to be done for these kids."

The Salvation Army kettles will be out through Christmas Eve, he said, with a final performance by the brass ensemble scheduled for Friday.

"We have a lot of fun this time of year interacting with the community, and one of the ways we do that is through having our brass ensemble play Christmas carols at our kettle locations," he said. "Usually around 5 to 6 in the evening we like to show our appreciation and share the joy of Christmas by playing as people are shopping."

Donations from the kettles go toward social services throughout the year, which he said have expanded since the McBrides came to Hot Springs.

"Specifically our soup kitchen, which used to operate Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the evenings now operates Monday through Friday, which is a blessing," he said. "But that takes money and volunteers. And we've also got a mobile canteen that we've used mostly for disaster relief that we're hoping to utilize more often."

McBride said he spent much time with the homeless in the community and hopes that the mobile canteen will help remedy the population in Hot Springs.

"It's our plan to get out on those cold mornings with a hot cup of coffee and a warm breakfast for these individuals," he said. "We've had much support from the community in Hot Springs and we've really seen a lot of good happening in the three and a half years since Tina and I moved here.

"It's all been put in place by the support of those in the community, and for that we say a sincere 'Thank you.'"

Local on 12/18/2014

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