During the Christmas season children expect to find presents under the tree on Christmas morning. Some families are not as fortunate to produce those presents for their children. The Salvation Army found a solution to this problem by creating Angel Trees. Angel trees can be found mainly at Walmart or online throughout the country. 

Angel Trees consist of anonymous donors picking a tag off a tree which lists specific children and their wishes. The trees are scattered through Walmart where one can physically pick it up and start their shopping right away. When one is done shopping for that person then they return the goodies back to the store they got it from. 

In order to be selected for the Angel Tree program families have to have proof of financial hardship by filling out an application. In that application it also provides places to list the children’s clothing sizes and their interests. This is to ensure that the gifts they’re receiving fulfill their Christmas dreams. 

The tags will have a variety of items like: clothes, toys, essentials, and many more things. Providing for a kid on the Angel Tree ensures that they will have presents on Christmas morning. While children are the most popular age on the trees, there are also seniors that can be found on it as well. They recently incorporated seniors into the foundation due to their hardships. Seniors struggle to keep up with the increase of food and everyday necessities, so this program supplies them with their essentials. 

The Salvation Army partnered with Operation Hope which provides financial classes to the parents of Angel Tree kids. 

This program has been around since 1979, but just recently has become more popular due to its spread on social media platform, Tiktok. Many celebrities and high end social media creators are spreading their wealth to those in need. Whether people are acting on this cause for the sole purpose of “being trendy” or just simply doing it out of the kindness of their heart, every Angel Tree done is going to a great cause.