BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Martin County Sheriff John Kirk is asking residents to help make Christmas brighter for local children through the Angel Tree project.
For the 11th year in a row, Kirk has posted Christmas Angels on his office door, available for residents to sponsor this holiday season. Each angel represents a child and lists the child’s age and wish list.
“The Angel Tree is something that we’ve done for several years,” Kirk said. “We work with Social Services to do this, and it’s been really successful every year.”
The community consistently steps up for the project.
“It seems like we always run out of angels,” said Kirk. “A lot of people in the county come forward and take them. Some people come in and get several of them.”
He recalled one woman who, in past years, removed every angel left on the door.
“It would be pretty expensive,” he said. “She spent thousands of dollars a few times so the kids could have presents. And she remained anonymous, didn’t want any recognition for it.”
Kirk asks participants to wrap each child’s gifts and place them together in a bag or box with the angel attached. He says participants should deliver all gifts to the sheriff’s office by Dec. 15, where Social Services will collect them.