Sean C. Morgan
Name tags are still available on the Sweet Home Police Department Sharing Tree, and while the deadlines have passed for the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District, donations to defray the costs are appreciated.
The SHPD Sharing Tree serves children ages 12-17. The fire department Sharing Tree serves children up to age 11.
The Police Department Tree has about twice as many name tags as usual remaining on the tree, said Community Services Officer Gina Riley. The tree has about 70 names, and most of them remain on the tree, which is located in front of the dispatch window at the department.
The fire department tree had about 130 names remaining, said Volunteer Association President Chris Forum.
In the Sharing Tree programs, needy families submit children’s names for the tree. Residents take a tag from the tree, shop for a gift and return it wrapped to the appropriate department.
The Blue Santa delivers the presents, while families go to the Fire Hall and pick up their gifts.
“Usually, by this time, half are gone,” Riley said. Police personnel knowzraising events like the Steak-Out at The Point Restaurant or from donations by the Kiwanis Club and residents.
In some cases, residents have donated cash but asked the police personnel to shop for them, Riley said. In one case, the supervisors at White’s Electronics decided not to do their usual gift exchange and donated the money they would have spent to shop for children on the Sharing Tree.
The children this year aren’t requesting the usual toys, Riley said. “When you look for specific needs, they’re not toys. They’re gloves, shoes, pants, anything.”
Here and there is a request for a bike or an X-Box game, but mostly, it’s about needs, she said.
The unclaimed names on the fire department Sharing Tree will be taken by members of the Women’s Association, Forum said. They will use funds from the Volunteer Association to pay for the gifts.
It’s past deadline, but donations would help replenish those funds, Forum said.
Total, the fire department Sharing Tree will serve about 250 families and 500 children, said Jared Richey, a volunteer firefighter.
Coming up on Saturday, the Police Department will participate in another charitable gift-giving program, Shop with a Cop.
About five police officers from Sweet Home, a dozen from Lebanon Police Department, a couple of Linn County deputies, a law enforcement officer from the U.S. Forest Service and possibly a State Police trooper will take needy children shopping at Wal-Mart. Fifty children from the Sweet Home and Lebanon areas will be able to spend $50 each.
What’s precious about it is the amount of shopping they do for other members of their families, Riley said. They’ll think about grandma and a new pair of slippers or grandpa and a new pipe.
For more information, call the Sweet Home Police Department at (541) 367-5181 or the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District at (541) 367-5882.