How Salvation Army volunteers sort donated Angel Tree gifts to make sure every child gets a Christmas gift

TAMPA, Fla. - The Angel Tree is a yearly program organized by the Salvation Army in partnership with Walmart stores to help bring Christmas joy to every child.

"Santa Claus is on his way, but sometimes Santa Claus needs a little help, and that's where the Salvation Army steps in to meet the needs of this community," said Major Mark Woodcock, who is the area commander for the Salvation Army in Hillsborough County.

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The Salvation Army serves 2,500 children in Hillsborough County alone, but across the Tampa Bay area they provide Christmas Gifts to 12,000 children.

"The Salvation Army is rolling up its sleeves with volunteers, providing thousands upon thousands of toys and new clothing," Woodcock said.

Big picture view:

Volunteers are what make this program possible. It takes tens of thousands of hours to get the donated gifts sorted and ready for families to take home. Dale Peterson, who serves on the board for the Salvation Army in Hillsborough County, also volunteers with the organization.

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"The joy that we have doing this is a lot of these people that show up here don't have the means to buy their family or their children gifts," Peterson said. "And so the joy that we get is being able to get them to distribute the gifts and receive the gifts, and this is the best time of the year."

That's on top of the year-round commitment by Salvation Army staff.

"We have a lot of staff that work on this project," Woodcock said. "And, we'll start in January for next year as we evaluate this year."

How It Works:

The Salvation Army wants you to know they never take away a gift purchased for a child during the sorting and checking process.

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"We don't take away from them, because if it's bought for Sally, it goes to Sally," Woodcock said. "And then we place them out in these boxes for the families."

They only add gifts for children who did not receive as much as others or whose gifts were not the right size or item.

"Every bag that comes in we double-check to make sure sizes are appropriate, toys are appropriate for the kids," Woodcock said. "And if a donor doesn't maybe purchase enough, we try to add to it."

Dig deeper:

The Salvation Army knows this process starts with the people who pick up the tags off the Angel Trees across Tampa Bay.

"That is only made possible because of kind donors throughout our community, which will adopt one of our angels," Woodcock said.

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And ends with the volunteers that sort, lift and hand out the gifts throughout December.

"Because I'm big, I get to lift the heavy bags and the gifts and put them in the box," Peterson said. "So I'm organizing, helping to put the bags in order for distribution day. So happy to do it."

This year's Angel Tree campaign is over now that it is Christmastime, but their mission is never over.

"The time to do it is now," Peterson said.