The joy of giving: The Giving Tree sees over 200 ornaments gifted

I got the best Christmas gift this week. It wasn’t a car, a cashmere sweater or the battery operated jacket I’ve been coveting. Actually, it happened when I went shopping for some people I don’t even know.  

Still, I got the gift.

If you took part in The Giving Tree this year, you know what I mean. You helped to purchase gifts and food cards for more than 210 local children from 70-plus families who signed up for a little holiday help.

I was the editor of the Mirror-Reporter back in 1991 when teacher Donna Dull, school nurse Julie Livingston and Valores Young, leader of the Chamber of Commerce Retail Committee, came into the newspaper with an idea for a Giving Tree. In a nutshell, the program aims to fill children’s needs for winter clothes, shoes, socks and the like. With the community helping with the needs, hopefully it becomes a little easier for parents to purchase Christmas toys.

In those early days, parents from Clear Lake and Ventura with children in grades kindergarten to six were given the opportunity to sign up. The first year 70 ornaments were on the tree and they were gobbled up by community members anxious to take part.  

Gifts of food have also part of The Giving Tree since its inception. The Mirror-Reporter office looked like a grocery store each December, as school classrooms held food drives with The Giving Tree as the beneficiary. Donors would look past the direction to donate non-perishables and would bring in all the fixings for Christmas dinner— turkey or ham included. Thankfully management from Fareway Stores joined Publisher Mike Finnegan and myself in the second year to deliver food and gifts to Giving Tree families.

Over the course of the past 33 years the Giving Tree has evolved. Today, food gift cards replace box loads of non-perishables and sign up has been expanded to include youngsters attending Head Start and Charlie Brown Preschool/Daycare. It also includes students from all grade levels. After all, all kids should have gifts to open at Christmas.

Cell phones have now made it more convenient to notify parents when gifts are ready and they pick them up at the newspaper rather than have them delivered. Those at the Mirror-Reporter hear countless thank you’s from parents who genuinely appreciate the help and are overwhelmed with the generosity. More times than I can count, someone who once was the recipient of Giving Tree assistance has later become a donor. They are eager to pay it forward.

There have been years when we wondered whether all of the ornaments would be taken from the tree in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the need seems to always grow. 

One of my fondest memories came on the heels of a last minute appeal we made in the newspaper. Thankfully within hours of stating our need for food donors, the ornaments were quickly pulled from the tree and filled. But before we could announce that all of the wishes on the tree had been filled, one local man of meager means came into the office. He was very upset to hear that people in his town were in need of food. He was sharing what he could, including his government issued peanut butter and cheese. 

The community has come through in every one of The Giving Tree’s 33 years and that is the case again in 2024. 

So I guess many of you got the same great Christmas gift I did. As the saying goes, “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.”