The new Angel Tree office at St. Mary Magdalene Church opened for business last week. The annual Christmas sharing program has begun.

Past organizer Sue Rose and longtime volunteer Rosanna MacInnis met with Councillor Phil St. Jean and Julie Miller to hand on the torch.

Mr. St. Jean and Ms. Miller have taken on the program that brings Christmas cheer to hundreds of County children.

The program that has supported local families for nearly 40 years was in some jeopardy earlier this fall. It risked losing its local leadership with the retirement of Ms. Rose. An ‘army’ of local volunteers have stepped up, however, to keep the season bright for Angel Tree program recipients.

That army was busy Tuesday afternoon compiling lists and checking them twice as both program applications and donations started to arrive.

Mr. St. Jean said the program already had 160 online registrants before the new office opened to take in-person registrations.  Last year the program helped over 350 children.

“So we will soon be halfway to that number,” Mr St. Jean said. “But we’ve had such a huge response from potential volunteers that we’ve had to re-allocate them to different areas. The outpouring from the community to keep this program going has been nothing short of amazing and inspirational.”

While child registration has been brisk, kind community members taking an angel or two off the iconic tree has been steady as well.

“Just after we opened, we had folks stopping by and starting to take angels off the tree and thankfully, because of the legacy of Sue Rose and her decades of hard work, people are finding us and taking part in a wonderful experience,” he added.

This year might see the greatest need in the program’s history given the unprecedentedly high interest rates and inflation.

Those wishing to donate online can visit www.thechildrensfoundation.ca/pecangeltree or by visiting St. Mary Magdalene Parish Hall at 335 Main St. East (behind the Church) Tues. to Fri. 12-5 p.m. or Sat. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

For more information, email [email protected] .