I caught Donna Watkins just coming home from shopping – hungry and tired – but more than willing to talk about the Giving Trees. She said that Sue and Bob Scott were responsible for the advertising, organization, and emailing almost all of Mancos about the Giving Trees.
When I asked about her part in the operation, she said, “I fell into the job of chairman and had such a good time I can’t wait till next year. Yes, I’ll do it again.” She wasn’t quite sure what the job was all about when she started, but she quickly caught on.
Applications (requests) were placed in several local stores and businesses. When the applications were completed by folks in need of some Christmas cheer, the committee put the sex, age and desired items on paper ornaments and hung on them on the trees. When completed, the trees went to sites including Raven House Gallery, Coldwell Banker Heritage House, P&D Grocery, the Mancos Public Library and the Columbine Bar. There were requests from 45 families, 120 people, 34 dogs, 30 cats and two rats (not sure what the rats asked for.) At the last minute, a woman called and said she had just received a foster child and timidly asked to be included. Guess what? It was a rousing, “Yes, of course.”
The donors were the Absolute Bakery, Bodean Trucking in Durango, Western Excelsior, as well as many anonymous donors.
The list of individual jobs was long: shoppers, wrappers, pickups, drivers and deliverers. These workers came from the Mancos Seniors Center, Victor Heuldman, Jo Savage, Maddy Williams, Joanne Marlman, Lynn Lewis (who donated all the tables), Gloria and Roger Woody, Carie Baikie, Zuma Natural Foods, the Columbine, the P&D, Mancos Bank and the library. (The blame for misspelling any of these names is entirely my fault. I am sorry if I got any of them wrong. Sometimes I can’t read my own writing.)
Also, a big thank-you to Donna’s granddaughter Sensa Wolcott and Linda Watkins, Mary Brisen, Bob and Sue Scott, the school (Thanks, Tracy), Mancos Clinic, and last, but not least, Terry King who graciously loaned us the use of her building for about a month in order to have a place to put it all together.
What did we all get out of this project? Lots of smiles, many thank-you’s and the thought of bright eyes and joy on the little kids’ faces on Christmas Day.
Mancos’ Champion Tree
Speaking of trees, I must not forget that Mancos has a Champion Tree, a title that the Colorado Tree Coalition gives to largest trees of their species in the state. No, it’s not a Christmas tree. According to Jon Bower, it is a Camperdown elm – named for the Earl of Camperdown, of Dundee, Scotland, whose gardener grafted the species in the early 1800s. It is on Grand Avenue and likely was planted in the 1890s.