Success of Angel Tree program continues in Union County
Published 7:00 pm Saturday, December 17, 2022
- The Salvation Army Angel Tree program helps provide Christmas gifts for youth in Union County and typically serves 100 families in the area. Lenore Case and Alex Rees are looking to organize the community to help fill this gap.
LA GRANDE — The Salvation Army Angel Tree program is again bringing out the best in Union County residents this Christmas season.
There is no better example of its success than at Art Center East, 1006 Penn Ave., La Grande.
ACE had 60 “Be an Angel” tags on its Angel Tree for children and teenagers in Union County when it was put up a month ago. A couple weeks later, more than two-thirds of those tags were already gone.
Each tag lists information about an unnamed Union County child or teenager registered with the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program. The information includes their age and gender and the presents they would like for Christmas. The community is invited to take a tag and purchase the gifts listed and bring them to ACE or the La Grande Salvation Army, 1114 Y Ave.
Among the presents dropped off at the art center this year are cellphones, headphones, shoes, dolls, shoes and bedsheets.
“It is amazing how generous the community has been,” said Jennifer Durr, the gallery director at Art Center East.
The local Salvation Army staff wraps the presents and then sends them to the children they were purchased for. They wrap the presents themselves so they can make sure the gifts will go to the right child or teenager, Durr said.
ACE has been participating in the Angel Tree program for four years. Durr said each Christmas season many of the same people come in to get tags, while there are others who are participating in the giving program for the first time. Durr said some people take multiple tags from the tree.
The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program provides thousands of presents each Christmas to hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers in the United States and Canada, according its website, www.saangeltree.org.
Art Center East is among a number of businesses in Union County that have a Salvation Army Angel Tree. Others include Maurices in Island City and Safeway in La Grande.
Carol George, the assistant manager at Safeway, said her store participates in the program annually and it is always very popular. George said its success is an indication of the giving nature of the community.
