Each year, the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program helps hundreds of children in the Selma and Dallas County area have presents to open Christmas morning.

The program started in 1979 and is designed to help less fortunate families that may not have the money to buy gifts this year. Many of those families have dealt with some kind of recent hardship, like the loss of a home or job.

This year the program will help provide gifts for 397 angels and those angels will be up for adoption in front of Queen City Market at the Angel Tree Blitz from 9-11 a.m. on Black Friday. Each tag has a child’s first name, their clothing sizes and a few items they want for Christmas, as well as something they need.

“All they have to do is put it in a bag, bring it to us with the tag attached, and we make sure that it goes to the family,” said Monique Berch, director at the Selma Salvation Army Service Center.

The holidays are full of joy for so many of us, but not everyone is in the same boat financially.

The Angel Tree program is a great way to give back.

We encourage anyone with the means to do so to look into the program and do your part to help.