by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Walk into the Holy Name Parish Hall in early December and you might think you’ve walked into Santa’s workshop. Volunteers bustle between tables stacked with piles of baby dolls, books and snow boots filling orders that will be delivered around the county. This year the Community Christmas Giving Tree will create Christmas for more than 500 children, senior citizens and special-needs adults in towns from Lubec to Jonesboro and everywhere in between, and they’ll do it with the help of more than 50 volunteers.

“I think pretty soon we’re going to have to start putting ‘community’ in all capital letters because there’s been a growing involvement from the community,” said longtime volunteer Betty Jean Wilcox. “I started in 2010 and I’ve seen a bigger sense of involvement, and our number of volunteers has doubled.”

The charity was formed 18 years ago by Janelle Look, Betty Palmer and Helen Vose, who also founded the Machias Food Pantry. Vose was renowned for her giving spirit. 

“Helen was always doing something for somebody, it did not make any difference what it was or who it was,” said longtime Giving Tree volunteer Gloria Brown. “Fuel, transportation, it didn’t make any difference.”  

Vose died in 2012, and now Giving Tree volunteers call themselves “Helen’s Elves” in her honor. Last week those elves packed up their boxes and met to chat and finalize details. One board member suggested they might consider renaming the application to make the process seem more inviting to parents.

“Just the word application...they think they’re going to be denied or accepted,” agreed Brown.

But no one is ever denied, and the application is more like a wish list asking children’s sizes, what their interests are, and what warm winter clothing they require.  

Each year Wilcox sends stacks of application forms out to more than a dozen agencies that serve the area, then donation forms and wish lists to 150 donors. Donations come back in the form of cash or new toys and clothing. 

“Every child gets a hat and mittens or gloves, a book, and a toy,” said Wilcox. “That’s an automatic.” 

Each child also gets an article of clothing. If they need boots or a jacket, those clothing needs are met first. Because boots can be hard to find in the winter, sometimes the group uses cash donations to get them, sending volunteers to Bangor with a list of needed sizes. 

One wall of the parish hall is lined with a rack of brand new winter coats for children, all donated by a couple from Maryland. “They shop every year for jackets,” said Brown.

Debra Eckart has led the organization for the past five years. She said this year there seemed to be more large families with three or more children. In those cases, each child will receive their assortment of gifts, and volunteers will also tuck in a puzzle or board game for the whole family. 

All the gifts are new and delivered unwrapped with one exception — if it’s a single-parent family, volunteers will gift wrap a small gift so the parent has something to open with their children on Christmas morning. “They deserve some credit, too,” said Wilcox. 

The names of organizations and businesses that have supported the charity this year are too numerous to mention, and Eckart said involvement from area schools was also impressive. 

Rose M. Gaffney Elementary kindergartners and first graders donated toys to the Giving Tree this month instead of having a classroom gift exchange.

“So the teachers are starting this whole thing, the students are learning to give,” said Eckart.

Students from Washington Academy and Machias Memorial High School (MMHS) made time to fill orders this year and learned the pleasures of volunteering. “I actually ran into one of the boys last night at Hannaford, and he told me it was the best thing he’s done in a long time,” said Eckart. “He said next year he’s going to come and help.”

One high school volunteer came back the very next day and brought her grandmother to help, too. 

“I later learned that this young lady was a recipient when she was little, and she wanted to give back,” said Eckart. “She said, ‘I can’t wait until I’m out of high school so I can come during the day!’”

MMHS students also come each year to unload the previous season’s boxes and will soon return to pack away this year’s boxes, too. The University of Maine at Machias men and women’s basketball players collected toy donations at two recent home games, sending those along to the Giving Tree. Washington Academy JMG students came with $250 they had raised, and then helped to fill orders, too.

Eckart noted the recent success of Wesley’s Tree Festival which raised $70,000 for the Wesley Foundation’s youth-centered work in the area. After winning trees at the festival, two people then turned around and donated their winnings to the Giving Tree.

“They’re giving to the Wesley Foundation, and then they win and pass it on to us. So that’s another win,” said founding member Janelle Look.

“I've lived here now 37 years and it's a wonderful community, but this year, for some reason I just feel that everybody is so genuine, so kind, and so giving,” said Eckart. “There seems to be something — a change in the air.”

To see Helen’s Elves in action, look for them on pg 21 of the December 19 issue of the Machias Valley News Observer in digital or print.