By Connie Patterson
Valley Service Organization
Kassey Westring, Valley Service Organization (VSO) coordinator for the 2023 Platte Valley Giving Tree project, said forms for inclusion on the Giving Tree have been distributed and the deadline for families to return 2023 application forms is Thursday, November 16.
Earlier, forms were distributed to area families through Saratoga and Encampment schools, preschools, Head Start, Public Health and Bridge Street Bargains in Saratoga. Completed forms may be mailed to Westring at the post office box on the form, or taken to school offices.
As in past years, the Giving Tree will be in the Town & Country Realty office in Saratoga, Westring said. She said that VSO has organized this project for several years to provide Christmas for Valley children who otherwise might not have much of a holiday.
Tags with the profiles of the children will be placed on the tree and available to the public on Monday, November 20. The tags will have information on the age of each child, his or her size, what items the child needs, what he or she wants, and his or her interests and favorite colors. There will be nothing on the tags to indicate who the child is, and all information received will be kept in the strictest confidence and destroyed after the gifts are distributed.
Persons wishing to provide gifts for the children can pick the tags from the tree starting on November 20 and then have until Thursday, December 14, to return the gifts unwrapped to Town & Country Realty.
Westring went on to say that this year residents of Valley Care Center will again have tags on the tree. As they have in past years, several valley organizations and churches are also planning to participate in the Giving Tree project by “adopting” families and purchasing gifts for the entire family.
