More Boise kids than ever will get Christmas gifts through Salvation Army this year
Each winter, the Salvation Army in Boise donates holiday gifts to kids whose parents can’t afford them. This year, the organization saw its greatest need.
The program, called Angel Tree, uses local donations to place toys, clothes, books, games and other items in the hands of children 12 years old and younger on Christmas morning.
Over 1,800 children were signed up this year, or about 800 families, according to Maj. Kimberly Stambaugh, the officer in charge of the organization’s Boise Corps Office, which serves Ada County. Last year, there were 1,400 children signed up.
Community members were able to meet that need.
“This year we had a much larger turnout for families needing assistance,” Stambaugh said by phone. “We also saw a much different demographic. A lot more working families have been coming to us, people who previously may have picked a tag and donated themselves but now find themselves on the receiving end.”
Sign-ups started in mid-October and ended earlier this month, but families who didn’t register can still drop by Friday to snag any presents that remain.
To sign up, parents must provide photo identification, proof of residence and evidence that the child is living with them, such as a birth certificate, guardianship papers or immunization records. Pickup is similar to drive-thru donation drop-offs at Goodwill and other nonprofit stores.
“Parents give us an idea of what items their child might want and we bag them with about two to three toys each, including a major gift and a couple of minor gifts,” Stambaugh said. “Sometimes we get little stocking stuffers that come in, too. We’re able to give them to the parents new and unwrapped when they come to distribution to pick them up. Then they’re able to wrap them and give them to their children as a gift, from them.”
Stambaugh said the Salvation Army has been doling out the presents from the Boise Factory Outlets mall near Gowen Road.
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