Community responds to Sisters Giving Tree

The Sisters Giving Tree went up at Ray's Food Place on Friday, November 30. Already the community is pitching in to help neighbors in need.

According to Elizabeth Rierson of the Sisters Kiwanis, tags on the tree have information, perhaps about a five-year old boy who might need clothing, or shoes or perhaps something more fun.

Those who want to help can pull the tag and deliver the gift (with tag) to the Sisters Fire Hall where volunteers from the Sisters/Camp Sherman RFPD put the gift together with holiday food baskets for the family.

Rierson said that more than half of the gift tags on the tree on Friday were taken down by Monday, but more will go on the tree this week and next.

The Giving Tree is part of the program that includes the Christmas Food share, the Rotary effort to provide children with jackets and the Nugget Newspaper's Furry Friends Food Drive. Applications were sent out through churches, the school district, doctors, and Habitat for Humanity early in November.

Applicants are screened by the Salvation Army to eliminate duplication, then each family was assigned a code number and each child a code letter to protect their privacy.

The Fire Department has a list of the names that match the code and they put the name of the child on each gift and put it with the food basket. The fire department also contributes gifts to the children.

So far, about 32 families with 50 children have applied. Rierson anticipates about 150 children will eventually be served.

For families wishing to apply, the deadline for applications is December 13, to allow volunteers time to get applications screened, get the tags on the tree and let people pick up their food baskets.