“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.” But here, at Lincoln Central Family Neighborhood Center, for Christmas, these angels get so much more. Community Outreach Diane Doup explains the mission of Angels of Love.
“Angels of Love is a Christmas gift program for children in Bartholomew county,” Doup said, “The program is a collaboration between Lincoln Central Family Neighborhood Center and St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and it is for children up to the age of 18 years old. Every angel recieves at least 2 brand new presents based on a list that they and their families requested for Christmas.”
LCNFC organizes the gift donation and the community partnership; members of Saint Peters get to participate in shopping for presents, and for many, including Sophmore Lexi Denny, Angels of Love has become an annual holiday tradition.
“My family and I have been doing Angels of Love since I was very young,” Denny said, “The gift tags have always been around in my church and every year we pick a couple of tags. The Angels of Love gift tags have always been present in my church every Christmas and it has become a tradition that every Christmas we are able to give gifts to the children on those gift tags.
Denny enjoys shopping for the child her and her family sponser; Sophmore Brooklyn Donner also takes part in the warm feeling of gift giving.
“My favorite part about Angels of Love is getting to go shopping for the gifts and find something that someone would love to have,” Donner said.
But for those that organize this event, the joy and cheer doesn’t begin in December. LCNFC begins Angels of Love in October, and works until December, when they distribute the presents.
“We start working a few hours every week in the month of october and then once november hits it is almost a full time job at that point,” Doup said, “All of the angels have been adopted out to churches, businesses, and different groups and individuals and then presents are returned to us wrapped and then we have a distribution in the middle of December where families pick those up.”
Even though this donation is no easy feat to organize, the outcome is worth all the effort.
“I would say the [two] most rewarding parts for me are that we are making childrens wishes come true,” Doup said.” The other part of it is that we are providing a sense of relief to parents who struggle on a daily basis to meet their basic needs. Then, when you throw the holidays and the expense of presents on top of that, it can cause a great amount of stress to our parents.”
Playing Santa Claus for a child who may not receive a Christmas gift is an important part of the holiday season for Doup, and many other members of this small town; The heartwarming feeling that Angels of Love brings touches many people.
“One word that I would use to describe Angels of Love is unending,” Denny said, “Angels of Love provides unending love, unending support, and unending compassion to all who come in contact with the organization. They bring happiness to people no matter what.”
