Just like everything else this year, the Angel Tree program went somewhat differently. Char Seeman, who is the co-chair of the association with Heather Woodhouse, said that there were a lot of monetary donations. The monetary donations were awesome, the actual toy donations were down. We did buy between 70 and 80 per cent of the toys with the monetary donations we got, Seeman said. Volunteers said that shopping for toys was fun and a bit tricky, as getting gifts for about 400 children required a lot of imagination. When volunteers started running out of ideas they ended up asking friends about what their kids get or want for Christmas. But after all, they were very grateful for the support and donations of all types.
Danny Blackburn of Blackburn Well Service and Chris Scholpp of Red Line Well Service Ltd., both Estevan oilfield companies, decided to do something about it. “We thought it would be a good idea this Christmas, seeing that everything is kind of down in the economy, and we knew the Angel Tree would be hurting more than ever for donations,” Blackburn said, referring to Estevan Community Hamper and Angel Tree, which is hosted by St. Giles Anglican Church. “Everybody s getting affected by this, right? So, unfortunately the Angel Tree is hurting and they re hurting even more because they can’t get donations, because the guys that are willing to donate, maybe their businesses are running 25 per cent of what it was.