MACON, Ga. — Tis' the season to give back, and some folks give back to those in need.
However, some non-profits in Macon-Bibb, known for helping bring Christmas to countless families, are saying they're seeing less donations this year.
"It's extremely unusual to be at this point and still have 150 children not selected,” Sgt. Melissa White says.
White is the Salvation Army's Corp Administrator. She says the Angel Tree Program they run gives families who need help a chance to have a Christmas.
Each child entered, gets an Angel Tag along with a list of their desired gifts, and someone can choose to buy it for them.
White says Macon-Bibb typically helps around 400 children.
"Then they bring the gifts in – and as they bring them in – we schedule a time the family's come by and pick them up from us at our warehouse,” she explains.
White says this year, they're helping 390 families– which White says is less than usual. However, she says 150 children have yet to be selected to be given gifts and it's almost Christmas.
"I think it's because of the economy and the challenges that we've faced,” White says. “We had one company that was able to take 200 angels last year, and couldn't take any this year. I think that's the trickle down effect of how it's affecting the community.”
Joe Allen– founder of Kids Yule Love– agrees.
"We gotta get what we can get,” he says.
Allen created the mission in 1986 to help a family at the time. He says the organization has helped provide toys and bibles to children for 38 years. They served 1,700 kids in 20 counties last year.
"Take a tag and go buy the gifts. It's as simple as that,” he explains.
Allen says they have angel tree tags in several locations, and while it’s not unusual for a few Angel Tags to remain unclaimed, he says there's still an unusually large amount of them still on the trees.
"Christmas is around the corner. We're asking for up to the age of 10 years old at the most,” he says.
White says if a family does not get claimed, the Salvation Army will purchase gifts to make sure every child still receives something, but she says it eats into their yearly budget for the next year that helps people.
Allen says that different non-profits help each other fill in the gaps, if they’re still in need of toys and says it’s difficult to do that this year.
White says they need the community's help.
"I don't look at these as boxes, I look at these as families. Many of these you will see multiple children in, many are grandparents raising their grandchildren, and thinking about the challenges that they face on a daily basis,” White says. “We can fix this one problem."
Allen says even if every single Angel Tag does not get claimed, they’ll still find a way to have a toy and bible for every child, and it’s not too late to help.
“It's not just one person's program. We all have a part,” he says.
Sgt. White says the best way to help the Salvation Army is to purchase simple, new and unwrapped toys for kids. You can drop them off at the Salvation Army, or you can go to their website to make a cash donation to them.
The Kids Yule Love donation boxes are located at any fire station, at the Buffalo's Cafe on Zebulon Road, and Sonny’s BBQ also on Zebulon Road.
Allen says they'll start to collect donation boxes on the 17th, but will accept gifts until the 24th. He says to contact him at his number 478-955-4100.