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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.
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.