(Editor’s note: this week we have a guest column – Mac is recovering in the hospital from a fall last week. She broke her pelvis, which the doctors say repairs itself only with physical therapy. In the meantime, she’s keeping the nurses busy and sends her best to all. We expect her regular column next week. Please take a moment to consider getting involved in the Giving Tree and the Oct. 1 potluck lunch.The Giving Tree campaign, a multi-year, anonymous, volunteer project that collects and distributes Christmas gifts to about 150 Mancos-area residents, is getting ramped up for a new holiday season. The effort attracts a lot of participants, and everybody else is invited to join in the charitable effort.
To get things started this year, Giving Tree organizers will hold a potluck lunch on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Methodist Church fellowship hall on Oak Street and will help build the outline of all the ways you can help. Bring a favorite potluck dish – Mancos residents are known as good cooks. Many folks have volunteered in the past years, and all are invited back this year. Please make a serious effort to RSVP so the potluck can be properly planned.
Headquarters this year is being donated by Terry King at the corner of Oak Street and Grand Avenue – the bright yellow building – and is scheduled to open during Thanksgiving week. The Giving Tree elves are looking for tables, generally the 6-foot variety. Do you have any that the elves can borrow? Six-footers are best, but the elves can make most any size work.
he application forms have been prepared and delivered to the schools. Giving Tree family information forms usually get in the hands of most families, thanks to the distribution process of local churches, the housing authority and the websites of the Mancos Valley Resources and Mancos Valley Chamber. You’ll see a difference this year – the Giving Tree is for “children” to age 22 and seniors 70 and over.
In order to fulfill the role as Santa Helpers for the 19th year, the Giving Tree campaign will need a lot of folks each doing a small portion – whatever appeals to you and fits your available time between now and Christmas Eve. Do you enjoy shopping for a child or teen? Like to wrap presents? How about making deliveries in December?
Giving Trees and ornaments usually are put up the week after Thanksgiving, signaling the start of the shopping season.
The Giving Tree elves ask that everyone consider shopping locally, if possible. Think retail and service and more – favorite massage therapists, beauticians and veterinarians.
Mancos Valley Resources, a local 501c3 nonprofit, is acting as a pass-through agency for the Mancos Giving Tree. Donors who want a charitable deduction for tax purposes can pass those gifts through MVR. Please mail checks to Box 204, Mancos 81328 or call 533-7434. (Patricia Burk and Betsy Harrison are the contacts for Mancos Valley Resources.)
Participating in the Giving Tree is like giving yourself a gift in the Christmas season. Giving Tree elves are joyous folks spreading Christmas cheer.
For more information, contact Donna at 303-956-5656 or dlslwatkins@msn.com or Sue at 970-533-1504 or sue@sundancebear.com.
Let Donna and Sue hear from you. Join in!