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Salvation Army Begins Distributing Angel Tree Gifts To Parents

SPRINGDALE (KFSM) — The Salvation Army began distributing angel tree gifts to parents on Thursday (Dec. 15). More than 2,000 children across Northwest Ark...

SPRINGDALE (KFSM) -- The Salvation Army began distributing angel tree gifts to parents on Thursday (Dec. 15).

More than 2,000 children across Northwest Arkansas will receive gifts this Christmas thanks to the generosity of our community.

The Salvation Army said this is the first year that all the angels were adopted.

Rob Ceballos was one of the 100 volunteers who came out to help load the gifts into parents’ cars. He said one of the best things you can do is to give back.

“I think every Christmas is kind of a rough time for a lot of families and it's just important that kids have the best Christmas they can...a bike, a toy, you know anything is so much fun for these kids,” Ceballos said.

Billy Barren was also volunteering with fellow co-worker from Sam’s Club and he said it is great to see the family’s reaction to getting gifts for their kids.

“Looking at all the bikes and toys back here is crazy...like how much people gave back and to see it all go to great families in the community,” Barren said.

Salvation Army Major Mary Matthews said give back and they did. They were able to help between 800 and 900 families this year.

“The community just really responded in just a powerful way this year. The angels just flew off the trees long before Christmas and the gifts started coming back and it is just a generous community,” Matthews said.

Matthews said each family also received turkeys, eggs and potatoes.

“Total strangers that don't know somebody and they have a heart for somebody who might be struggling and buy something for that family that they'll never see...So it`s a gift given just totally out of love,” Matthews said.

Volunteers will continue to distribute the rest of the gifts on Friday (Dec. 16).

The Salvation Army's red kettles will be out through Christmas Eve. The money collected from these supports their mission all year long.

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