Though worried at first this year, Diane Shank and the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District firefighters report that the department’s Sharing Tree was a success.
“It really went well,” Shank said. The total number of children served was down, but the number of families was up.
The Sharing Tree provided Christmas gifts for 442 children, down from 480 last year, and 183 families, up from 177 last year. Five years ago, the Sharing Tree served 491 children and 188 families and in 1998 a five-year high of 575 children and 218 families.
This year, the Sharing Tree received $2,680, just shy of 1998’s $2,682.02 and up from 2000’s $1,960.67. The department spent $2,132.38 this year. In 1998, it spent $2,718.07 and last year $1,134.19.
With the sharing tree, the names of needy children are placed on a Christmas tree at the Fire Hall. Persons visit the tree and take a name, then buy Christmas gifts for the child.
“You start out and you hope” that there donations will cover each child on the Sharing Tree, Shank said. This year, firefighters were worried that people had already given what they could following the events of Sept. 11 and would be unable to help with Sharing Tree gifts.
“We were getting a little nervous,” Shank said. The Christmas bazaars were held on the first weekend of December this year while the parade was held on the first full Friday through Sunday in December causing confusion. People said they hadn’t seen the Sharing Tree, and that put the effort behind schedule; then the department received 180 toys in one day, and word started getting out about the need.
“In relation to that, a man said he wanted to donate, but he wanted to get a match for the donation,” Shank said. He got that match. The biggest help was a $1,000 donation. The Linn County Road Department held a toy drive, and the Salvation Army donated toys.
“After that, we were comfortable,” Shank said. Each year, “you don’t know where they’re (toys) going to come from.”
In years past, the fire department has delivered gifts to the homes of the children in fire engines, but they had problems when they were unable to deliver gifts because people weren’t home. The department changed delivery this year, requiring families to go to the Fire Hall and pick up their gift boxes.
That worked out well, Shank said, but that has a down side too.
“We didn’t get to see many kids this year,” Shank said. On the handful of homes where they did deliver, whichever firefighters were at the Fire Hall wanted to make the deliveries.
The Sharing Tree has been an annual project of the volunteer firefighters for decades.