KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nearly 1,700 individuals in Johnson County will receive gifts this holiday season thanks to the Olathe Salvation Army's initiative to collect gifts from donors for families in need.
Johnson County families in need of financial assistance for gift giving this holiday season applied to this Salvation Army program, where a donor adopts a family, buys gifts for the children and those over 60 years old in the family based on their wish lists.
The donor then drops those donations off at the Olathe Salvation Army center.
Volunteers then organized the donated gifts into respective bags and boxes for those families, who line up in their cars to pick up the gifts.
“This year is kind of a record number of angels for us," said Lt. Nate Woodard, core officer of Salvation Army of Olathe. "We’re at 1,700 angels, just about, I think it’s a little less than that, and 650 households that we’re serving. And so, that number has grown increasingly since the pandemic hit. We’re seeing a lot of need in the community, inflation is at an all-time high, so we are seeing an uptick in people applying for Christmas gifts.”
The Salvation Army calls the gift recipients "angels," and those angels range in ages from newborns to 18-year-olds and those above the age of 60.
Although, Woodard said some donors provide gifts for those in the families that lie outside those age ranges.
“Our biggest hope is a conversation I just had at a car with a mom whose car broke down this month, who needed a little bit of extra spending money for the holidays, just to live life," Woodard said. "So our hope is that the gifts, the gifts in these boxes are able to alleviate some of the pressure that our families are going through during the holiday season."
Woodard said this is the second year the Olathe Salvation Army has used this tactic to collect, organize and distribute gifts, which he says allowed volunteers to serve the 1,700 angels — or 650 families — in two days.
“Each child submits a wishlist in their application, and so we have fantastic donors here in Johnson County that fulfill that wishlist to specificity," he said. "And so, in these bags and in these boxes we could have anything from a Playstation, we could have gift cards, we could have a specific dollhouse, bikes, pack 'n plays, cribs, you name it. Whatever is on that wishlist that is specific to each child is fulfilled by the donors in our community. And so, it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of, a beautiful thing as the Salvation Army, we just get to be present and available to help our community."
Gifts collected from KSHB 41's Season of Hope campaign were able to fill gaps in gifts for families who applied to the program late, according to Woodard.
This is the first year the Olathe Salvation Army partnered with Johnny's BBQ to provide a turkey to families in need.
For every turkey purchased at Johnny's BBQ, one 22 pound turkey was donated to a family who applied to the Salvation Army's gift program.
—
