By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Giving Tree organizers say the community responded with unprecedented enthusiasm to this year’s request for donations.
“We got all the gifts we needed,” said organizer Julia Smith, treasurer of the Sitka Chapter of the United Methodist Women. “I so appreciate the community for jumping in.”
Some 186 gifts were purchased by residents, who participated by picking up paper ornaments and donating gifts for the designated recipient – for example, a 3-year-old girl or an elder man. All of the gifts were distributed by Tuesday to the intended recipient groups.
“The phone calls I received with questions... It made me feel so supported by the community,” Smith said. The list of people perhaps needing some extra cheer through gifts were provided by Head Start, Sitkans Against Family Violence, Youth Advocates of Sitka, SEARHC long-term care, the Pioneers Home, and Salvation Army.
Smith said the donations box was filled within the first two days the gift tags were on the tree in the Wells Fargo Bank lobby. And they kept coming in, with Smith and other volunteers putting new tags on the tree a couple times a week to replace the ones taken by gift donors.
Smith said she could tell by the unwrapped gifts that some of the donors had put some extra effort into the enterprise, by grouping a few presents together and offering practical age-appropriate items.
“They might have just had $20 or $25 to spend but they included wonderful little things,” she said. “A pair of socks, a lovely piece of chocolate, some Chapstick. It was a gift thoughtfully put together for an elderly man. You could tell they did some thinking about what would this person needs. To me that’s heartwarming.”
