POSTED: Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009

More gifts being asked for needy children in Blaine School District

BLAINE - Organizers of a project to give Christmas presents to needy children in the Blaine School District are asking more people to donate this season because more families are requesting help.

As of Dec. 1, 230 families had signed up for the Christmas Giving Tree Program.

That's at least 763 children in Blaine, the Birch Bay area and Point Roberts waiting for three gifts - one toy and two items of clothing.

Last year, 690 children in 213 families were served.

Coordinated by employees at Good Samaritan Society-Stafholt in Blaine with the blessing of the skilled nursing home's administrator, Wayne Weinschenk, the program tries to make sure children younger than 18 have gifts for the holiday.

The children's requests are put on tags that are distributed to individuals, groups, schools and businesses in the community, some of whom put the tags on Christmas trees for other would-be donors to grab and shop for a child.

They then return the wrapped gifts to employees at Good Samaritan, where employees will be busy organizing them - at least 2,289 presents - for distribution a few days before Christmas.

The issue isn't whether people are willing to help.

"Most people are doing what they did last year," said Marsha Hawkins, coordinator of Christmas Giving Tree. "It's just that so many more people already have applied."

Buying gifts isn't the only way to help, Hawkins said.

"If people don't want to shop, they can make a (monetary) donation," she said.

Organizers use the money to buy gifts for children whose tags were lost or were not selected.

"We try to make sure every child gets free gifts," Hawkins said.

The Salvation Army in Bellingham also has been busy trying to make sure nearly 850 needy children have gifts - a minimum of two toys and two pieces of clothing each - this Christmas through its Angel Tree Program.

"That's quite a few items. Fortunately, Bellingham is very generous, so we have a lot of angel trees out," said Major Debi Dove of The Salvation Army in Bellingham.

Last year, The Salvation Army served 857 children.

Under the program, donors select a tag that bears a child's age, gender and requested gift.

They buy the items and return them unwrapped to the location where they plucked the tag from a tree.

The deadline is Dec. 16 so gifts can be distributed Dec. 19.

Dove said The Salvation Army should be able to fulfill children's requests this year.

That's partly because heavy snow last year prevented some organizations from returning donated presents until after Christmas.

The Salvation Army filled children's requests with other toys and clothing that had been donated but were not specific to a child, then held onto the presents that came in after Christmas for this year.

The community's giving spirit was another reason why Dove expected all the children would receive gifts this year.

"We've already had lots of people this year just bring us stuff," Dove said.

TO HELP OUT

• Additional information about the Christmas Giving Tree Program is available by calling Marsha Hawkins or Natasha Bowman at Good Samaritan Society-Stafholt at 332-8733.

Gifts can be mailed or dropped off at Good Samaritan Society-Stafholt at 456 C St., Blaine, WA 98230. Drop-offs will be in the front office 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Checks should be made out to the Blaine Chamber of Commerce, which is handling the monetary end of the effort. Write "The Giving Tree" on the memo line.

Donations are tax-deductible.

The deadline for gift or monetary donations is Dec. 15.

• Learn more about The Salvation Army's Angel Tree Program by calling Major Debi Dove at 733-1410.