Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9312210063
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOANNE ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We're thankful," said Ford, unofficially speaking for a few dozen others shivering nearby. "It's worth standing out for any kid."
Still, she lamented, it would have been nice to know what was going on - why the long wait and the obvious confusion.
What was going on, according to Sargeant Thomas Atkins of the Montgomery County Salvation Army, was as much of a fiasco for him and his workers and volunteers as for the parents outside.
Each year, the Salvation Army sets up Angel Trees - Christmas evergreens bearing the names, sizes and wishes of needy children. Community people choose a child or two and contribute presents anonymously.
Atkins and his crew planned to spend last weekend moving and organizing the thousands of Angel Tree presents in a vacant building at 1255 Radford Road.
In a perfect world, the doors would have opened Monday morning at 9 a.m., the people would have stood patiently - and warmly - inside, received gifts for their children and food for their tables and departed with smiles on their faces.
In the less than perfect world we live in, almost everything that could have gone wrong, did. The building was sold. The new owners knew nothing of the Angel Tree distribution scheduled for Monday morning. The Salvation Army found out late on Friday that space was no longer vacant.
Atkins was grateful for the offer to use the now-closed First Virginia Bank building at U.S. 460 and Virginia 114, but realized too late that it was way too small to accommodate all the gifts, not to mention the waiting parents.
By the time a truck was rented, loaded with the gifts and driven up from Pulaski, the first parents to arrive had already been waiting close to two hours.
"The [Angel Tree organizers] have gone through a lot. . ." said a Christiansburg mother of two. "It was not intentional to hurt people."
Ford was one who had waited the longest, but when the distribution finally began, she remained near the end of the line. "Let the others go first," she said, "especially the older ones. I can wait."
Karen Taylor of Christiansburg kept her van running and invited in as many people who wanted to share her warmth.
Staff members from the Roanoke Times & World-News delivered pitchers of coffee and hot chocolate to the frustrated, and cold, parents.
Christiansburg resident Judy Little was faced with the decision of whether to give up her place in line, and perhaps her childrens' gifts, to pick up her kids from school on time. Others had babysitters who were missing appointments of their own.
As the skies thickened and snow began falling, Atkins faced a dilemma on the operations side: to stop distributing because of the snow, to try finding a new location to sort and distribute, to tell the people to come again another day.
"It's been quite a nightmare," he conceded. But he turned to each parent who received gifts, patted a shoulder gently and said "Merry Christmas and God bless you." Then the spirit of the season prevailed. The morning's frustrations gave way to a smile and a quiet thank you.
The New River Valley Mall, where the Angel Trees stood bearing the childrens' names, welcomed the waiting parents in from the cold. By 2:15 p.m., all the gifts and food boxes were being distributed from a nearby mall door.
For the children, whose parents routinely sacrifice their own comfort for the sake of the kids, Christmas will be merry, for Santa Claus will have not forgotten them.
by CNB