2016 Holiday Tool Kit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
THE SALVATION ARMY ANGEL TREES SPROUT
IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Gift-giving Program Helps Ease Worry for Financially-Strapped Local Families
Insert City (Insert Date) – Once again The Salvation Army is planting its Salvation
Army Angel Trees at (Insert location) in order to help families ease financial worries
during Christmas. The Salvation Army Angel Tree program gives donors an easy way to
provide new, unopened toys and gifts to kids who might otherwise go without.
“We don’t want Christmas to be a time where parents have to choose between paying
the heating bill or buying toys for their kids,” said (Insert corps officer/program director
name, title). “Having Salvation Army Angel Trees in (insert location of your angel trees)
eases the worry for many families and means thousands of children will have a present
on Christmas morning.”
From November XX through December XX (insert participating locations) will display
“Angel Trees” decorated with paper angel tags with guidelines for guests to select the
gender, age and type of gift, such as a toy or clothing, for a needy child in their local
area. New, unwrapped gifts can be brought to (insert location) by Dec. XX for
distribution by The Salvation Army.
Originating in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1979, The Salvation Army Angel Tree program
began through a partnership with a local mall to set up Christmas trees with angel tags,
each representing a child in need whose family was being served by The Salvation
Army. That first year, the Angel Tree program gave nearly 700 children a joyful
Christmas morning. Twenty-eight years later, the program is now in nearly every
community in the United States and has helped ease the holiday stress of millions of
families struggling to make ends meet while placing a Christmas smile on the faces of
their children.
About The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian
church originally established in 1865, has been supporting those in need in His name without
discrimination for 135 years in the United States. Over 31 million Americans receive assistance
from The Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from
providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to
the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged
children. About 82 cents of every dollar raised is used to support those services in 5,000
communities nationwide. For more information, go to www.salvationarmy-socal.org.
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