SPACE, Inc. may not have Santa’s sleigh or workshop, but we’ve got a 24′ truck and a few elves that work just as well!  Last Sunday both were put to good use transporting Sharing Tree gifts from the United Way building to the distribution center at Blessed Sacrament School. 

Sharing Tree is a program of the United Way Volunteer Center that matches needs with donors and provides Christmas gifts to children and families that may not otherwise get them.   Requests are received from non-profit agencies, churches, and schools and are cataloged and sorted in a database that eliminates duplicates.  Colorful tags are printed with the gift request details (specific toy, clothing sizes, color preferences, etc.) and hung on trees placed in prominent positions throughout the community.  People take the tags, fill each request, and return the wrapped or bagged gifts to designated drop-off points or the United Way building.  

That’s where the SPACE “sled” comes in.  On the Sunday before Sharing Tree Monday, SPACE donates a truck to help move all the gifts from the United Way building and other drop-off points to the distribution center.  This year the move took about 4-1/2 hours to complete.

On Monday, hundreds of volunteers move all the gifts from the storage site at Blessed Sacrament to the individual agencies that distribute the presents.  Volunteers serve as unloaders, runners, checkers, wrappers, and kitchen help.  In a 6-hour span on Monday, several thousand gifts are checked in, carried to agency tables where they are logged in, and then boxed up for transport back to the agencies. 

Midway through the morning, one of the classes from Blessed Sacrament strolls through the halls and gym singing Christmas songs.  You can’t help but feel good inside knowing that you’re helping to make Christmas for so many.  Everyone wears a smile….even after 5 hours of running gifts.  Now that’s what Christmas is all about!