200 children in Lee County still in need of Christmas gifts – how you can help

The Salvation Army of Lee County is donning Christmas hats and ringing bells while they spread holiday cheer and raise money for their Angel Tree Gift Program.

But, at the rate it’s going, children in need will only get enough to fill socks instead of Christmas stockings.

Thousands of children across Southwest Florida made their list, and The Salvation Army made sure to check them twice. They know many of them went through something naughty this past hurricane season, so they want to get them something extra special.

“This year, we took more families than normal, and the reason we did that is we know that between inflation and those who are still in recovery from Ian, we needed to stretch our goal,” said Major Ethan Frizzell, the area commander for The Salvation Army of Southwest Florida.

Their Angel Tree Program gives gifts to children in need. They already have gifts for 4,076 kids on their list, but despite that, hundreds of other children need your help to complete the deed.

“[Thursday] afternoon, at 6:30 p.m., we’ll go to the Walmart in Cape Coral, and we’ll shop for our last 200 families because we like to make sure that every child receives gifts that they hope for Christmas,” said Frizzell.

Each bag is matched with a child in our area’s name, and there’s everything in the bundle, from bikes to clothes and even games.

“What we find is that often adults buy for children what they would want as children,” said Frizzell. “It’s interesting this year that one of the special items people have been wanting is baby doll houses, and I kind of wonder if that’s somewhere between the storm and the pandemic, that people want to celebrate the best of family.”

If you want to help the children still in need of gifts on their wish list of toys, The Salvation Army told WINK News things like remote-controlled cars, drones, bikes and baby doll houses for girls and boys ages 8 to 13.

You can shop with the Salvation Army on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. if you want to spread extra Christmas cheer.

Click here to learn more about how you can donate to The Salvation Army.