• Angel Tree

How Angel Tree Works

Social service agencies and schools refer families to The Salvation Army for help with Christmas. Participants are interviewed to verify that the family is truly in need.

We obtain the name of each child under 12 in the family and a list of desired Christmas gifts. Verification is made to ensure that the family is not receiving duplicate services from another agency.

Angel tags are printed for each individual and placed on Salvation Army Angel Trees at area malls and in local companies and organizations.

Generous Donors select Angels, purchase gifts, and return them to the Angel Tree by the given deadline on each tag.

Upon their return, the gifts are taken to a Salvation Army Christmas Distribution Center for pickup by the Angel families.

Sign-up & Volunteer with The Salvation Army

We have many volunteer opportunities available throughout the holiday season. If you’re interested in serving as a volunteer, please view available volunteer opportunities online: CLICK HERE

The History of the Angel Tree Program

Along with the familiar Red Kettles, the Angel Tree program is one of The Salvation Army’s highest profile Christmas efforts. Angel Tree was created by The Salvation Army in 1979 by Majors Charles and Shirley White when they worked with a Lynchburg, Virginia shopping mall to provide clothing and toys for children at Christmas time.

The program got its name because the Whites identified the wishes of local children by writing their gift needs on Hallmark greeting cards featuring pictures of angels and placing them on a Christmas Tree at the mall. Thanks to the Whites, who were assigned by The Army to the Lynchburg area at the time, more than 700 children had a brighter Christmas that first year.

Three years later, when the Whites were transferred to Nashville, Tennessee, Angel Tree was launched in Music City during the 1982 Christmas season. WSM radio, which airs the Grand Ole Opry, came on board that year as the first Angel Tree co-sponsor in the U.S.

Because of the on-air promotion on WSM in Nashville, as well as national publicity on CNN and the Larry King Show, the program has grown to include Angel Trees throughout the country.

The History of WBRC FOX6 Salvation Army Gifts for Kids

In 1998, WBRC teamed up with the Department of Human Resources to help collect toys for foster children in Jefferson County. Since then, the WBRC FOX6 News Gifts for Kids program has expanded to include several counties in and around Birmingham, providing toys to tens of thousands foster children in the Birmingham metro area. In 2007, WBRC FOX6 News partnered with The Salvation Army of Birmingham.

WBRC FOX 6 Salvation Army Online Adoption and Information

WBRC FOX 6 Salvation Army Gifts for Kids Program provides an opportunity to spread joy and cheer to those less fortunate during the holidays. Whether you are an individual, family, organization, church, business or club, you can help make a difference by accepting any number of Angel Tree “tags” from The Salvation Army.

Each Angel on the tree represents the wishes and desires of a local child in the Birmingham area. Through the Angel Tree program, families and children have their specific needs and wants met providing hope to these families in need. In 2020, thanks to our sponsors and the community, we provided 3,100 children with gifts to open on Christmas morning.

Another component of the Angel Tree program is the “Forgotten Angels,” which are Angels that are not adopted for one reason or another.  There are usually trees for Forgotten Angels at other sites as well.