Like many 11-year-old girls, Heavenly wants jewelry, dolls and clothes for Christmas. And like mostboys, 4-year-old Pablo wants a hand-held video game console and a Spider-Man action figure.
These children, however, are less fortunate than others. Their families are down and out this holiday season and need assistance.
But Heavenly, Pablo and about 500 other Anne Arundel County children will get their Christmas wishes thanks to the U.S. Naval Academy.
“We don?t often get a hands-on opportunity to help the community, and the midshipmen look forward to this as a way to fulfill our obligation to the community,” said 2nd Class Midshipman Tenely Fullington.
For the 17th year, the academy put up a Christmas tree in Bancroft Hall and hung paper angels with the names, ages, sizes and desired gifts of local needy children.
Named the “Giving Tree,” midshipmen, faculty and staff will pick an angel and buy gifts for the children. They are placed under the tree to be picked up by the Salvation Army, which then delivers the goods by Christmas.
“Parents come to us, usually those who are on fixed incomes or struggling financially, and we work to give the kids want they want so they can have a good Christmas,” said Chuck Whiten of the Salvation Army.
“This is an opportunity to give [the] person the notion that people still care.”
The Salvation Army hosts other Giving Trees throughout the county, including local banks and Annapolis Mall. In all, about 2,000 county children get toys and clothing from the Giving Trees, with the academy?s tree netting the most charity.
The event is put on the by the brigade?s sixth company, which decorates the tree and calls on the brigade to support needy children.
Fullington, who organized the event, said half of the angels were claimed as soon as they were placed on the tree.
Dozens of midshipmen gathered for a ceremony Tuesday and selected several angels.
First-Class Midshipman Lakendrick Allen of Shelbyville, Texas, picked 4-month-old Felix. Allen said he?ll be shopping for his niece, who is the same age, and thought it would be a good fit.
“This is my second year doing this, and I like it because I know a kid out there is going to be happy because of me.”
