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By Lindsay Rose

As many of us find joy in our holiday shopping, we also find joy in helping others. There are numerous organizations worthy of your support, especially this time of year, but one of the most popular ones is The Salvation Army Angel Tree program. I have volunteered at the distribution center a few years and got to see how it all works. From that experience, I’d like to share some advice. If you love to adopt an Angel and really go all out for him or her, I urge you to consider adopting siblings. I’ve witnessed parents come to pick up gifts for their three children and find that one child has three bags full of gifts from a generous donor and the other two barely have one, or worse, did not get adopted at all (often the older children). The gift pile for the Forgotten Angels is very sad. Parents are then faced with the added challenge of trying to even out the gift piles for their children. If you choose to participate in this program, this year or next, I hope you’ll consider spreading the joy a bit or giving to the Forgotten Angels.