ANGEL TREE

How to get involved
There are many ways to be involved in the Angel Tree project. Look over the list and see what best suits your desires and abilities then contact us at angeltree@soarministries.org

1. Commit your church, school, or work place to distribute and collect bags. Contact us with a number of bags you would like and we will give you the bags to be filled with the age and sex of the child, i.e, boy 2- 4 or girl 7-9 etc.

2. Sew bags to be filled (directions are provided at the link to the left.)

3. Collect "parent gifts" the children can choose for their decorated paper bag. These gifts are usually small gifts like toiletries, kitchen towel sets, aprons, flashlights, small screwdriver sets etc.

4. Collect balls that are deflated. We transport them and then inflate them to give out at the area villages.

5. Collect blankets and/or sleeping bags. The homes do not have heat so it gets quite cold at the elevation of 6,000 ft. We distribute these per family in the villages, especially the mountain villages.

6. Collect school and craft supplies that are given to the churches to use wither for the kids throughout the year or for their Sunday School program.

7. Give financial contributions to help offset the cost of driving these bags to Mexico. (All gifts are tax-deductible and a receipt of your gift is given at year end.) Send gifts to SOAR Ministries, Inc | 1384 Meadow Springs Drive | Lilburn, GA | 30047.

8. Travel with us to Mexico December 13 - 23. (A valid US passport is required.)

9. Give us a lead of someone with a van, truck or trailer we can use for the journey.

History
In the fall of 2000 while we were sitting at the National Missionary Convention in Tulsa, OK, the idea of the Angel Tree project was born. Melinda Wilson asked Cris Garcia of the Bethshean Mexico Mission if there were children associated with the mission that could benefit from gifts being sent down from the states. It could help meet a physical need but at the same time it would encourage the Christians in those villages that their brothers and sisters in Christ in the states were thinking of them. So, that year Cris made a list of the kids she knew in each of the churches then Mt. Carmel Christian Church "adopted" each child and bought the gifts to be sent. We packaged them and sent them to the border where Cris later went and picked up to deliver. We also included the elderly in the elderly home in Estancia. Each year it grew to include more kids, and in 2002 I actually went down with Cris to deliver the gifts face to face. Since then I could never imagine not being there to help deliver the gifts.

Over the years there have been changes in the way we have collected the gifts and distributed them, but we have always kept sharing God's love as the main goal. The project out grew Mt. Carmel early on so now many other churches are involved and even Christian schools have become involved. This year our goal is to have 1000 bags collected as well as "extra" gifts we allow the kids to choose and give to their parents. We want them to learn the importance and joy of giving, not just receiving, but it is pretty difficult when you don't have anything to give. So, after we share the story of Christmas with the kids, we allow them to make a card for their parents, and decorate a paper bag. They then get to go to the "gift box" and choose a gift to give to their parents. From there they go outside and line up to receive their gift bags.