We recently heard about Tara, a young lady who decided that instead of birthday gifts, she would ask her guests to contribute what they would have spent on a birthday gift to adopt Angels from the Salvation Army Angel Tree Program. This is such an inspiring story that we had to share it with all of our North Texas Kids readers!
Tara’s story
Birthdays are all about giving. When Tara Frost was planning to celebrate her 11th birthday, Mom Tresa suggested a party with a twist on giving. Tara loved the idea and so, instead of asking the guests to bring presents for the birthday girl, the invitation requested that each guest bring the money she would have spent on Tara. For the party, the girls would pool the money, go to the mall and buy gifts for angels they adopted from The Salvation Army Angel Tree.
Tara and her guests adopted three angels from The Salvation Army Angel Tree at Collin Creek Mall in Plano: an 11-year old girl, a six-year old girl and a seven-year-old boy. Each of the children they selected had written requests of gifts they would like to receive and the girls scoured the retailers at Collin Creek Mall, collecting just the right items to fill the wish lists.
“Tara and the girls took the buying of gifts very seriously. After they selected the angels from the tree, the girls studied the lists, found possibilities at stores throughout the mall and voted on which presents the kids would like best,” says Ms. Frost. “It was a very fun day for the girls and such a nice way to celebrate Tara’s birthday and the holidays. In fact, Tara said that this party is going to be a birthday tradition for her.”
Shoppers like Tara, her friends and parents Tresa and Boyd have generously supported the Angel Tree program, making it possible to help more than 50,000 North Texas children and seniors each year.
The Angel Tree is decorated with numbered tags, each with information about individuals who are in need of a gift for Christmas, including children ages newborn to 13 and senior citizens who are in area nursing facilities. Contributors can remove one or more tags from the tree and purchase appropriate gifts based on the information on the tag. Shoppers return the gifts, unwrapped, and The Salvation Army will distribute the gifts. The last day to adopt someone from an Angel Tree is Sunday, December 11th.
A friend of mine began this with her 5 year old. The first year he received donations to a local animal shelter. This year, the 2nd year to do this, he collected donations for our troops. We are going to do this for my son’s next b-day (his fourth). It’s a terrific idea!