As winter approaches, The Salvation Army is already gearing up for Christmas
Over 36,000 local residents depending on the nonprofit organization to make their holiday celebrations possible this year

The Angel Tree Program adopts disadvantaged children and seniors

Fourteen weeks away from Christmas, The Salvation Army is well into the preparation process for their 2009 Holiday Season Charity Giving Campaign.  Angels for the Angel Tree Program have already been ordered, Christmas assistance registration dates have been identified, the Harbor Light Choir is busy booking dates, and a new Secret Santa Warehouse will soon be announced.

Considering the number of local families that depend on the nonprofit for social service assistance during the holiday season, it’s no wonder Houston’s new Area Commanders, Majors Chris and Sandra Flanagan, are making every effort to ensure the Army is ready for its most important season of the year. Over 36,000 residents of Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties receive Christmas assistance from The Salvation Army each year.

“November and December are really two of our most important months of the year. Our community depends on us to make their Christmas celebrations special, and we at The Salvation Army spend months literally prepping to make sure we can deliver,” says Major Chris Flanagan. “It is really a labor of love for us.”

Over at the organization’s Family Residence transitional housing facility for single women with children, the preparation process means beginning to cook several turkeys a day in between regular meals from mid-October through December just to make sure enough food is available for the agency’s massive public Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.  It is a colossal undertaking considering over 10,000 individuals are fed on Thanksgiving alone throughout the Greater Houston region by The Salvation Army.

This achievement, however, is only a prelude to the Army’s Christmas assistance outreach.

"Last year, over 109,000 gifts were collected for more than 36,000 registered individuals."

Disadvantaged seniors and children in the three county area register to receive Christmas gifts from The Salvation Army. Officers and staff from the nonprofit, in turn, work with local corporations, individuals and volunteers to gather enough donated items to fulfill their registration requirements.  Families are then contacted prior to Christmas when their unwrapped gifts are ready to be picked up. The Secret Santa Warehouse is the undisclosed location where volunteers sort and package collected gifts.

Mall locations, as well as private corporate establishments are used to promote the Christmas assistance program, also known as the Angel Tree program. The Salvation Army also holds its longest-standing, charitable fundraising event of the year during this time period – the Red Kettle Campaign. Funds by the local nonprofit are in turn used to support year-round programs offered by the Salvation Army to residents of the Greater Houston region.