KINGSPORT — With 200 angels left unadopted by midday Thursday, the Salvation Army of Kingsport extended the original Thursday deadline for returning gifts to its Angel Tree program until 9 p.m. Saturday in an effort to find sponsors to provide gifts to the children those paper angels represent.
“We’ve extended the deadline hoping to get the rest of the angels adopted,” said Salvation Army Maj. Sharon Baso.
The Salvation Army of Kingsport’s Angel Tree program — which pairs children in need with donors who “adopt” them through a sort of “secret Santa” process — began last month with about 3,500 “angels” on Christmas trees at area businesses.
Paper angels representing the Christmas wishes of more than 800 area children remained on trees last Saturday. The region has a long history of not leaving any angels unadopted by the deadline date each year.
All the remaining angels have been consolidated onto the flagship Angel Tree, located on the second level of Kingsport Town Center near Belk’s. Baso said at this point the Army will gladly do the shopping for gifts if anyone wants to simply pick an angel and provide a cash donation intended to buy gifts for that child. Salvation Army officials request all gifts be returned unwrapped.
The Kingsport Salvation Army, located at 505 Dale St., provides Christmas assistance to residents of Sullivan and Hawkins counties in Tennessee and Scott, Lee and Wise counties in Virginia.
For more information, call the Salvation Army of Kingsport at 246-6671.