Friday, Dec. 12, 2008

Rotarians give presents to the 'angels'

Club pitches in with annual charity event

The Los Baños Rotary Club made sure some of the kids in town are set for Christmas with what they wanted most.

Keeping up with a small holiday tradition that started more than 25 years ago, the local Rotarians pulled together more $2,100 to help with the Angel Tree located at Coldwell Banker.

The Angel Tree is a way of giving less-fortunate children the opportunity to receive a gift for Christmas that they truly want or need instead of a generic gift in a specific age range, Angel Tree Coordinator Martie Lloyd said.

"It's special because the local school children are chosen by the teachers who know them," Lloyd said. "And the Rotary Club has been such a blessing. They helped us out so much."

The Rotary Club pulled 108 tags off the Angel Tree, club president-elect Robert Ford said. It was something he thought the club needed to do.

With the way the economy has been recently, helping the community in this way was important to Ford and his club members.

"This event, helping the kids, is very dear to me," Ford said. "All the members really came together for this. And I'm really thankful for that."

The club members individually pulled together $1,075 out of their own pockets to contribute. Then, as a club members matched that total to bring in $2,150 to purchase gifts for the "angels" on the tree.

"We bought as many gifts as we could," Ford said.

Lloyd said she was thankful for the community and how helpful it is toward this tradition.

"People look forward to this every year," she said, "selecting an 'angel' from the tree to give a gift for. It's just wonderful."