Share The Joy of Christmas through Thursday, Dec. 5

Just walk into a store, watch the Hallmark Channel, or notice the toy catalogs arriving at your home and you know that Christmas will soon be here. Will you share the joy of Christmas by purchasing a gift for a child who will have little or nothing under their tree at Christmas?

The Share The Joy of Christmas committee will have angel trees set up beginning Thursday, November 14 at five locations: First Lutheran Church, St. John’s Catholic Church, Community Credit Union, Central Pharmacy and Do It Best Hardware, all located in New Rockford. The angel tags on the tree will contain gift suggestions for a child. Please take some time to check out local stores to see what they offer. Gifts are to be wrapped and returned, with the tag attached, to the location of the tree by Thursday, Dec. 5. This date is early but time is needed to sort and get gifts delivered a week before Christmas.

If you do not wish to shop for a gift, you can also help with a monetary donation. These funds are used to purchase gifts for tags not selected from the tree. Envelopes are provided on the angel trees and can be given to personnel at the location of the tree or can be mailed to or dropped off at the Eddy County Social Services office, 22 South 9th Street, New Rockford, N.D. 58356 (please designate the donation to Share The Joy of Christmas).

Christmas Food Baskets will be distributed at this time through the Hunger Free Food Pantry as part of Share The Joy of Christmas. Items that are needed or welcomed to be included in the basket are instant mashed potatoes, gravy packets, canned corn, canned fruit, graham cracker crusts and pudding mixes. Bonus items for families include flour, sugar, cooking oil and mixes for cakes, muffins, etc. Snack items such as jerky, fruit snacks and other foods kids love are also appreciated. Donations of this kind can be dropped off at First Lutheran Church in New Rockford during office hours.