LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For weeks you’ve likely seen Christmas trees at local malls and department stores decorated with paper angels, each representing a local child in need along with their Christmas wish list.
To deliver on the promise of the Angel Tree program, an army of volunteers work tirelessly to sort, organize, and assemble toys and clothes for the kids.
On the exterior, it appears to be your standard warehouse but on the inside it looks a lot like Santa’s workshop -- full of toys, clothes, and plenty of helpers.
Gary Lambert is one of the many in the warehouse. He dedicates his time to building hundreds of bicycles every December.
Lambert describes the freight warehouse-turned toy shop as a magical place, where “miracles happen every Christmas.”
Hoping for such a miracle this year are the parents of over 2,400 local children who otherwise wouldn’t have a gift to open come Christmas morning.
Those parents are faced with very difficult decisions this time of year. It’s a burden that long-time volunteers like Georgiana Soderbergh hope to ease through her volunteer efforts.
“Parents can sit back and know that they can use their limited resources for something else, because their child is going to have [a] Christmas. Which means there's more money for utilities and food and rent and that sort of thing,” Soderbergh said.
For Lambert and Soderbergh alike, the goal is simple-- bringing joy to families for the holidays.
”The idea that a child will wake up on Christmas morning and there'll be toys. So when they go to school a week later, they can say, ‘guess what I got for Christmas’", Soderbergh said.
Parents of the 2,400 children are scheduled to pickup toys and clothes for their children beginning Monday, Dec. 19th.
While many of those angels were adopted and had gifts returned, many still have not. It’s a reality that weighs heavy on Angel Tree Warehouse Volunteers.
“I hope the gift comes in and that if it doesn't come in, I hope we have enough things in our toy store to make a good gift," Soderbergh said. "It's always hard, but we manage and we've been known to go out and buy things the night before if we needed to."
Donations to the iconic red kettles will cover the costs of purchasing additional gifts to ensure every Angel has something to open Christmas morning.
For those interested in donating, you can do so by clicking here.