An area business is organizing an “angel tree” for foster children in Newton and McDonald counties.
Little pink slips of paper are clipped to a pair of trees inside Stickers-n-Stuff, each slip detailing the children’s Christmas wishes. Stickers-n-Stuff is located at 2209 Oakridge Dr., in Neosho.
Customers at the store brought up the idea to co-owners McKenna Morgan and her mother, Clione Hatfield. They contacted the Newton and McDonald County Division of Family Services and asked about pulling together a list.
Of the original 100 names, 40 are still waiting for a sponsor.
Hatfield said many of the people who have come by the store to take a name picked an “angel” near their own child’s age and plan to get them involved.
“(Those kids) see then that, hey, there are a lot of people not getting things as much as we do,” Hatfield said.
The requests range from laptop computers to simple things.
“We were amazed whenever we got the list,” Morgan said. “There’s three kids on the tree that all they asked for was a Bible.
“Whenever you start thinking about that, what’s important to them is really obvious.”
On Oct. 10, some 50 people gathered at the Neosho Shriners Building for a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. benefit crop organized by the store.
“We do crops twice a year and they’re benefit crops and the money we raise goes to different organizations,” Morgan said. “This time we just did the angel tree.”
A portion of the proceeds from the crop will go toward the angel tree project.
There are still some “angels” waiting at the store for a sponsor. Gifts need to be wrapped and returned by Dec. 1 for delivery to the children.
For more information about the project call Stickers-n-Stuff at 451-4310.
