Salvation Army Angel Tree Online and In-Store
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With nearly 400 names on the Salvation Army Angel Tree, the Jackson area has a greater need than ever this year. Whether you are into Black Friday, Cyber Monday or any other type of Christmas shopping, there is more than one way to find an angel that needs the gift of hope. The Salvation Army Angel Giving Tree once held Sandy Stewart’s name and Christmas wish list. “There was a tea set. I had a little tea set,” said Stewart, a Jackson resident. “And it was a tea set I kept for a long, long time.” That was nearly 30 years ago. “My mom and my dad didn’t tell us where it came from,” said Stewart. “But after I got older, we realized where it came from – it was the Salvation Army.” The Salvation Army’s traditional Angel Tree will shine at Old Hickory Mall beginning this Friday, but they have also found a way to bring that tree home. “J.C. Penney has partnered with the Salvation Army, and you can go to jcp.com/angel and adopt an angel online,” said Captain Sara Saunders, commanding officer of Salvation Army of Jackson. “And it’s one of the angels that comes out of this area.” The online gifts are then shipped directly to the Salvation Army and given to the family days before Christmas. And it is not just toys on their wish lists. “Almost every angel on there put that they needed coats, they needed hats, they needed gloves,” said Captain Saunders. “They wanted new sheets. And I think about my own children when they were little and how I had cartoon sheets and princess sheets. And I think how much a child wants their own nice clean set of sheets.” Whether an in-store or online purchased gift, the angel who opens it may remember it for years to come. “It makes a difference on Christmas,” said Captain Saunders. “But I tell you, hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear a story about someone that was helped as a child, and that it’s that they never forget.” On Thanksgiving Day, J.C. Penney will donate $50 for every angel adopted through the online program, up to $400,000. On Black Friday morning, they will donate $25 on behalf of every customer who checks into a J.C. Penney store using Foursquare, up to $100,000.
