By Nancy Labahn, Community Senior Angel Tree Founder and Director
The 6th Annual Community Angel Tree is almost completed for this year. With the kind assistance and hard work of Catherine Kane, Notre Dame, the Director of the Senior Centers in Carbon and Emery Counties, the Association of Governments, United Way and the Division of Aging, all the ornaments were selected and gifts purchased for over a hundred seniors, all still living in their own homes.
In 2015, we lost our 32-year-old son from Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After hearing many stories of his kindnesses to people in the community, I wanted to reach out and somehow carry that kindness forward into our community in his memory. I asked for help in prayer and the answer was to start a community angel tree for the elderly.
That first year, we had 78 ornaments and in this, our sixth year, we had over 400 ornaments. As always, we receive wish lists from the Meals on Wheels recipients and those are provided to us by the director of the senior centers. Our project is traditionally operated out of the Hope Center; however, this year because of COVID-19, the trees with all the ornaments were in county buildings in Price and Castle Dale and the project facilitated by the agencies listed above.
It should be noted that this is a community effort and our objective is to help brighten the holidays for many of our most cherished seniors. This is something that was started in grieving but has evolved into offering the opportunity for many people to help our seniors with kindness and love. The generosity of the people in Carbon and Emery counties is amazing. Thank you to all who helped brighten the lives of so many this holiday season!
Happy holidays, everyone. Be sure to look for our notices next fall when we begin planning our 7th Community Senior Angel Tree.
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- Photos by Traci Bishop
