The Giving Tree gets fresh look, needs aid for 300 local youth

By BEcky Brooks

Man­ag­ing Editor

news@gazettepublishingco.com

For 2011, the Belle­vue Min­is­te­r­ial Asso­ci­a­tion is look­ing for hun­dreds of local angels will­ing to help others.

“We have approx­i­mately 300 tags,” explained Lau­rie Daniel, chair­woman of The Giv­ing Tree project.

The min­is­te­r­ial asso­ci­a­tion project signed up chil­dren from new­borns through seniors in the Belle­vue City School Dis­trict through Mon­day who were in need this holiday.

“We ask for an out­fit, socks, paja­mas and a spe­cial toy,” Daniel said.

Newly made wood tree dis­plays are posted at Bassett’s Mar­ket and Hogue’s. Each tree is cov­ered with tags giv­ing infor­ma­tion needed for a spon­sor to pur­chase items needed by a local youth.

The bot­tom of the tag is filled out by the donor and left with the tree.

Daniel said donors then fill the request and drop off the presents at the First United Methodist Church at 901 North­west St.

“Then we pass out the gifts on Dec. 19,” she added.

While The Giv­ing Tree pro­gram has been in Belle­vue a good num­ber of years, Daniel has coor­di­nated it for the last four years, she said.

The one new part of the pro­gram this year are the tree displays.

They were hand crafted by Belle­vue Senior High School teacher Shawn Beamer and then painted by teacher Kim Root and her students.

Daniel said the old card­board tree dis­plays needed to be replaced and mem­bers of the Belle­vue Senior High School staff stepped up to help.

“The high school is doing some­thing to help with this project,” she added about other stu­dents at BSHS.

NHS, FFA and FCCLA are involved in a project to donate items for chil­dren and stu­dents are also coor­di­nat­ing a fundraiser. Stu­dents may drop change in buck­ets with a teach­ers name on it. The three staff mem­bers with the most money will dress and Santa, Mrs. Claus and an elf this hol­i­day season.

“They donate that money to us,” Daniel said about the Giv­ing Tree.

Should mem­bers of the pub­lic wish to aid the pro­gram on their own and do not have time for shop, cash dona­tions may be sent to the Belle­vue Min­is­te­r­ial Asso­ci­a­tion at PO Box 182, Belle­vue, OH 44811.

Posted by Becky Brooks on Nov 22 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.