'There's no greater feeling': Salvation Army continues to serve with Angel Tree program
Dec. 21—The Salvation Army of Owensboro was ready Tuesday morning for its Angel Tree assistance program distribution at the organization's facility, 215 S. Ewing Road.
A line of cars full of families in need stretched out to West Second Street to receive clothing, toys and gifts for the holiday season, along with a Christmas food box to take home, during the drive-thru event.
A half-hour into the distribution, more than 30 volunteers were making the trek back-and-forth between the distribution center to retrieve gifts to bring out to families, while also organizing the space to make sure everything was running smoothly.
Lt. Col. Shirley White, associate administrator, said the need increased this year.
"We've got 279 families, which (translates) into almost 600 angels," she said. "(We have) about 150 more angels this year."
Toys for Tots was also on-site in the distribution center with about 4,000 to 5,000 toys available to provide to the youth.
"We're going to distribute all the toys we have to Angel Tree," said Louis Drawdy, local charitable organizer for Toys for Tots. "If there's a child out there that needs a toy that they didn't get through the Angel Tree program, they get it from us.
"...Every child deserves a Christmas, and that's kind of what we do."
Tina Dowell, who's volunteered at The Salvation Army for 13 years, originally got involved due to her son's after-school program being dropped before Salvation Army took it over.
Now, Dowell and her son, Christian West, 20, volunteer together for a good cause.
"I love it," she said. "He's actually recruited people. He's got two of the guys he works with this year with him. Every year, it's somebody different; he brings in people that he can."
While White said it's "wonderful" to be able to help this many people this holiday season, she said there are a couple factors as to why the need may have seen an uptick.
"People not having jobs ... and prices (are) going up," she said. "Gas prices, food prices in the grocery store (are) just astronomical now."
White also said she's observed people who donated in the past not being able to contribute this year, while some have ended up needing help.
One of the main things White said has been "unusual" is having applications done online as opposed to the typical in-person application process, something that White said she's been missing.
"You miss that human contact of them coming in," she said, "and, of course with COVID, we've had to revert to drive-thru. We really don't have any interaction with people.
"Hopefully by next year we'll have all that ironed out and we'll be able to do the applications when they come in."
White and Dowell couldn't deny the joy of seeing the reaction from people coming through and getting to see those that the organization is able to assist.
"We did some yesterday because of the high volume of stuff they were getting," she said. "The reaction has been wonderful, and (they're) so appreciative."
"Last year was probably the hardest year I've had," Dowell said. "I had several parents ... burst out in tears when they saw how big the bags were and what they were getting.
"There's no
greater feeling."
After being involved with The Salvation Army for 47 years, the excitement is still very much alive for White.
"It's probably even more," she said. "When we started the program back in 1979 in Lynchburg, Virginia, we (had) like 482 angels. And now, the program is all over the United States; we serve over a million children with the Angel Tree program across the United States and overseas.
"It keeps growing and growing and growing."
