Christmas spirit alive in Southpointe

By Barbara Murphy

The Christmas spirit was alive and very much in evidence in December throughout Southpointe, with amazing decorations, Toys for Tots bins in abundance and particularly in the businesses that were participating in United Way of Washington County’s Caring Tree program.

AccuTrex Products, Champion International Moving, Community Bank, Centimark, Millcraft Industries, State Farm Insurance, Iceoplex and DPS Penn joined local churches, schools and workplaces throughout the county to serve as tree sites, where generous employees fulfill the gift requests submitted by clients of local health and human service agencies, hoping to brighten the holidays for people in need.

AccuTrex Products not only serves as a tree site. They also donate the time and skill of their employees to cut the thousands of gift requests into Christmas tree-shaped tags. AccuTrex employees assist with the collection, processing and distribution of the gifts. This year, the gift-processing center was at Washington County Fairgrounds, under the direction of Bud Koffler, a United Way volunteer who has been managing the Caring Tree program since the late 1990s.

“Technology has really helped to streamline our process,” said Koffler, an employee at Axcera in nearby Lawrence. “Today each gift request tag has a barcode that makes checking the gifts in as simple as scanning the barcode when the gifts are delivered to the processing site. It’s much more efficient than doing it by hand and allows us to know which gifts are missing, so that no request goes unfulfilled.”

Volunteers shop to fill any unclaimed tag requests and for gifts that are not delivered on time.

The Caring Tree program began in 1984 when a group of United Way volunteers set out to provide some holiday cheer for the needy, lonely and neglected of Washington County.

“The Caring Tree is more than just getting toys for children,” according to Bob Hillberry, who with his wife, Sally, and son, Brian, has been a Caring Tree volunteer since that first year. “Children’s happiness at Christmas is always a major concern; however, there are teenagers in foster care, mentally challenged young adults in group homes, lonely adults and senior citizens who are also hoping for something at Christmas. The Caring Tree fulfills their holiday gift requests as well as the children’s.”

Requests are often for basic needs like clothing, hats and gloves, alarm clocks and pots and pans. Many older adults in nursing homes request gifts as simple as pens and paper.

Participating agencies this year included Catholic Charities, Washington Communities MH/MR, Washington Christian Outreach, Washington County Children and Youth Services, Washington County Aging Services, Northwest Human Services, Washington Area Senior Citizens Center, Try Again Homes, TEC, Easter Seals and Washington County Health Center.

If your business would like to help with next year’s Caring Tree, please contact me at Barbara@unitedwaywashco.org.

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