Peggy Revell
With the countdown to Christmas well underway, help still is needed to bring holiday cheer to children across the district through the annual “Adopt an Angel” program run by Family & Children’s Services here.
“We’re kind of off to a bit of a slow start,” admitted Jacquee Loerzel of FACS, noting just over a dozen “angels” have been adopted so far.
“So we’re hoping that in the next little while that the pace will pick up and people start picking up the angels, and buying gifts for the kids,” she added.
“Adopt an Angel” Christmas trees are set up at Wal-Mart here and Tompkins Hardware in Emo. Each angel ornament represents a child in the district, from Atikokan to Rainy River, who is involved with FACS, whether it be through foster care or a member of low-income families that need a little bit of help to make the holidays brighter.
There are 150 “angels” waiting to be adopted this year.
Now in its sixth year, the “Adopt an Angel” program had roughly 170 participating children last year.
There are more children who could be added as “angels” to the tree this year, noted Loerzel.
“[But] we’re not going to increase the number unless we see a significant increase in the number of gifts that are purchased for the next little bit,” she remarked, explaining they want to avoid having lots of “extra” angels without donated presents by the end.
Sunday, Dec. 14 is the final day for donations, with the trees being picked up on Dec. 15, said Loerzel.
To participate, people can just select an angel ornament from the trees in the stores. On each ornament is the pseudo name of a child (to protect their identity), along with their age and gender. For most children, what they would like for Christmas also is written on the ornament.
It’s requested that the angel ornament not be removed from the store.
These items then can be purchased at the store. At the checkout, just identify to the cashier that the item is for the selected child.
The cashier then will put the purchase in a designated “safe” area at the store, where the presents will be picked up by a FACS worker or volunteer so they can be delivered to families the week before Christmas.
FACS leaves it up to the families to decide whether the gift is from Santa or from the program, explained Loerzel.
“We’re really thankful for those people, those community members, that do help out with the program, and those businesses and organizations that make donations,” she said.
“We’d like to thank them and just remind people that there’s lots of kids out there that could use some extra care at Christmas time, and they’re kids that are in our community and our district.
“I really hope that people can make a bit of a difference for them this Christmas,” she stressed.
