{"id":85956,"date":"2025-12-16T23:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85956\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:05:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:05:12","slug":"for-orlando-families-salvation-armys-angel-tree-delivers-greatest-christmas-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85956\/","title":{"rendered":"For Orlando families, Salvation Army\u2019s Angel Tree delivers \u2018greatest Christmas present\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 This week, thousands of families are picking up Christmas gifts generously donated by the community through the Salvation Army\u2019s Angel Tree program.<\/a><\/p>\n

Angel Tree helps provide Christmas gifts for hundreds of thousands of children around the country each year. News 6 is a proud sponsor of Angel Tree, supporting those who need extra help to make their holidays special. Five thousand children and 1,000 seniors are benefiting from the Orlando Area Command\u2019s Angel Tree program this year.<\/p>\n

For many recipients, Angel Tree is nothing short of a miracle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to me, because I just recently had a surgery on my arm, and I had to pay out of pocket for my surgery, so it\u2019s kind of hard to be able to provide for my children,\u201d said mom of four Aralis Rivera. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t have something like Angel Tree, I don\u2019t know how I would have been able to tell him, \u2018hey, look, this is all what I can do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

[WATCH: News 6, Salvation Army kick off Angel Tree program]<\/p>\n

Dad Miguel Nieves shared how it is helping him be able to create new memories with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means the world to me because last year I didn\u2019t have my kids, they were taken away in the system, and I finally got them back, and I finally get to spend Christmas with all my children,\u201d he told News 6. \u201cSeeing their faces when they wake up and open those presents is my greatest Christmas present.\u201d<\/p>\n

The volunteers who help distribute the gifts are a major part of what makes the program possible. Volunteer Sheryl Stone knows firsthand the impact Angel Tree has on families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings me back to when my daughter was little and times were hard, and if it hadn\u2019t been for the Salvation Army, my daughter wouldn\u2019t have had Christmas,\u201d Stone explained.<\/p>\n

For Sheryl, volunteering is about paying it forward and blessing others.<\/p>\n

When asked what it is like to hand their presents to families, she replied, \u201cHeartwarming. Heart-touching. It\u2019s going to be hard to keep the tears back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s a teddy bear, a bike, or a stocking filled with love, Angel Tree is giving families a merry Christmas and helping them avoid choosing between presents and bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimes are so hard,\u201d said mom Eryca Thomas. \u201cSometimes people are barely making it with the groceries. I was literally right there this month. So, this is just a blessing to be able to make Christmas happen. I\u2019m so grateful for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 This week, thousands of families are picking up Christmas gifts generously donated by the community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[29012,1191,1335,139,141,140,17453],"class_list":{"0":"post-85956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-angel-tree","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-orange-county","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-salvation-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}