After months of getting things ready to go, The Salvation Army's Angel Tree program comes to fruition.
"This here is a reflection of this community and their generosity," said Major Randy Hartt, Washoe County Coordinator for The Salvation Army.Â
Today the organization gave out all the toys and food baskets for the program, thanks to massive help from the community.
Close to 1,100 families will be benefitting with almost 3,000 kids getting toys.
The Salvation Army says today on Wednesday saw the fruit of its labor after all the hard work.
Starting at eight Wednesday morning, there was car after car lined up for the distribution day.
Families were assigned a time and number that matched with their presents.
All they had to do was pull up and the volunteers did the rest.
For some of the families, they wouldn't have a Christmas without this.Â
"I had a lady with tears in her eyes," Major Hartt said. "She just grabbed me and shook my hand right through the car door, just saying thank you so much I would have not had a Christmas without this, and we have been getting that all morning long."
Major Hartt says there's just one more thing he wishes he could experience with this program.
"I wish I could be a fly on the wall in the houses of all these kids because they're going to have a beautiful Christmas morning and they're going to have a great meal," he said.
Volunteers said being a part of it embodies what the holidays are all about.
"There was a person that got a hover board and said that was exactly what her son wanted and started to tear up and drive away so that was pretty cool to be a part of," said Lexie Hogan, Volunteer for The Salvation Army.
For some newer volunteers, today was like a bonding experience.
"You know a lot of these people I met at seven o'clock this morning and we've just been hanging out talking about everything, our kids, our experiences, where we're from, jobs and all that fun stuff," said Brad Medlock, Volunteer for The Salvation Army.
However, to get to this day it took months of planning with sign ups, the turkey drop, and the angel tree tags that people could pick up.
The community responded in a big way as every single tag was taken and toys were purchased.
"You know always at the beginning you wonder if it's all going to come in and you know it's a wait and see and then you start to plan your contingency plans," Major Hartt said. "But as time progressed and things just went on and on, we just kept going and all the toys kept coming in."
Major Hartt says this is one of his favorite days of the year as it brings everything full circle and they get to help so many families in the community.
