Another successful season for Christmas Angels

The Olds and District Christmas Angels had another successful season collecting food and toys for Christmas hampers, then handing them out to needy families.

Spokesperson Mary Jane Harper says this past Christmas season, 193 hampers were handed out to 622 people, of whom 301 were children.

Harper says those figures have been growing every year, although when interviewed, she did not have figures from previous years at her fingertips for comparison.

Harper is not sure whether the increase is due to the poor economy or the fact Olds continues to grow.

"Our population, our community is growing. We're no longer a town of 5,000 or 6,000 people. Now we're a town of 9,600 people, and we're a college town," she says.

"As our population has grown, the percentage of people (needing Christmas hampers) has grown along with that population."

Harper says the number of volunteers and groups willing to help collect and sort toys and food as well as hand out the hampers also continues to increase.

She figures a big factor in that is not only the generosity of local residents, but the fact the time needed to volunteer is not that long.

"You know, we're only four and a half weeks from the time we take out our barrels – donation barrels – to the time we're finished. And when we really need the volunteers is only over a three-day period. So it's not a big time commitment for people who want to volunteer their time," she says.

This year, the Christmas Angels did something a little different. They created angel trees, which were set up in various locations around town.

"We put actual tags on the trees and people could take the tags away, buy a gift – you know, a 10-year-old boy wanted Star Trek lego – that was put on that little gift tag. And the response to that angel tree was very, very positive.

"People are always saying, ‘what should I buy? What should I donate?' So the angel tree, the angel gift tags, gave people an idea of what type of gifts children were looking for," she adds.

Harper said this past season the Christmas Angels appear to have provided hampers to more seniors than ever.

"We also recognize that seniors are having a tough time making ends meet," Harper says. "We want to emphasize we're there for individuals -- and families – to receive a Christmas hamper."