Army of volunteers delivers Angel Tree gifts in Lawton

It takes an army of volunteers to deliver the gifts off The Salvation Army Angel Tree — more than 100 as a matter of fact.

Those volunteers were in their places early Friday morning to make dreams come true for more than 700 angels in 274 families.

Each year, The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary hosts an Angel Tree in Lawton, where families in need can request items for their children, the “angels”. Residents then pluck a name off the tree and buy gifts for that child.

Friday was pickup day at The Salvation Army. Each family was given a time to arrive to pick up their child’s gifts. That’s where the army of volunteers comes in. Using walkie talkies to communicate, volunteers keep the line moving and make sure the right gifts get to the right families. Volunteers spend days bagging the donated items in the Boys and Girls Club Gym. When a family pulls up, they have a preassigned number that they give to a volunteer. That volunteer relays the number to volunteers inside the gym. Volunteers then load up buggies with the toys and other items and deliver them curbside to the waiting families.

The whole process takes about five hours. And requires the aforementioned army of volunteers.

Julia Riha, a member of the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, was helping direct traffic Friday morning. As each car pulled up, she took their number and relayed it to volunteers inside waiting to fill the order.

“I’m a bouncer,” she said. “I just float around where I’m needed. I see whatever is needed and I jump in and do it.”

Riha wasn’t the only volunteer with that attitude.

AdyLynn Anderson and William Liggins were helping haul bags of gifts out to cars. Liggins was carefully maneuvering a bicycle into the back of an SUV.

This was the second time Anderson has volunteered at the event, but it was the first time for Liggins, who is a member of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge.

“It’s been beautiful to see the smiles on the parent’s faces,” Liggins said of the experience.

Anderson, a senior at Lawton High School and member of the Student Council, said giving back to the community was why she was volunteering.

“The best part is hearing the reactions,” she said. “I don’t want any child to feel unloved due to a lack of means to provide gifts.”

Making sure children receive something they want for Christmas is one goal of the Angel Tree volunteers.

To that end, a violin was one of the most unusual gifts given this year.

An 8-year-old girl had expressed an interest in music, said Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary President Susan Nance. Then someone donated a violin.

“We called the family and they said she would love a violin,” Nance said. “It’s a lovely violin.”

The violin, in its case, was carefully delivered to a waiting parent hoping to make a child’s Christmas dream come true.