Sara Stadem | Editor
Christmas will be a little brighter this season for some families thanks to both the Tri-Valley and West Central school districts. Both schools give back to families in the communities through an anonymous Angel Tree and Giving Tree program.
Tri-Valley school has been doing their Angel Tree long before Elementary school counselor Whitney Burroughs was hired at Tri-Valley three years ago, she explained.
The Angel Tree is to help families that might be in need of extra assistance during the holiday season, Burroughs said. They can receive that help through the school.
The Giving Tree is through the West Central School District which has also been going on for quite some time, according to Humboldt Elementary administrative assistant Lois Thompson. “I have been doing this for the last 14 years. The district was doing it before I started this position.” Thompson further explained that there is also a Giving Tree at each school, Humboldt Elementary, Hartford Elementary, Middle School and High School.
Burroughs explained Tri-Valley has many staff and community members who donate money to be used towards purchasing gifts for the families and students. With the generous donations that are received, Tri-Valley is also able to provide any necessity items that are needed along with coats and winter apparel/accessories to students in need.
“We have had a lot of staff and parents/guardians of students sign-up to help buy for children and families in need,” Burroughs stated.
West Central usually assists between 10-20 families every year through the Giving Trees, according to Thompson, which is in part to the help from the community. “We have always had tremendous response from the community with many donations like gift cards, clothes and toys,” Thompson said. She continued, “Our 3rd grade students do a money tree and the money they raised is used to buy gifts for the families on the Giving Tree.”
Thompson also said that the community churches donate to the West Central Giving Tree families. “The community churches provide turkey/ham dinner with all the fixings for each family. They bring them to school the morning of the gift pick up and the family receive gifts and dinner,” Thompson stated.
The Crooks Fire Department decided to go shopping for the Tri-Valley’s Angel Tree this year. Crooks volunteer firefighter Chad Moller explained, “This is the first year we knew it was a need. I did some asking around. Based on the way the year 2020 has been, we decided to reach out and see if there was a family in need and we got pointed to the Angel Tree at the school.”
Moller said there were eight members of the fire department that went shopping on Saturday afternoon. “It was a great experience, something that we all want to go do again. We usually go into things at a bad time and being about to give back to the community in a good way felt pretty good,” Moller explained.