The OLA Giving Tree Ministry: A Major Blessing In The Lives Of Those Who Need It Most

The OLA Giving Tree Ministry — started 33 years ago by the OLA Flame Ministry — has grown annually, and in 2019 the Flame Ministry Giving Tree served over 100 families and their children. Time and time again, this ministry brought God’s mercy to those in need of His touch.

However, after the first of the year and after more than 33 years of service, the Flame Ministry decided to pass the torch of the Giving Tree Ministry to the Pastoral Council. The change was underway, and then COVID-19 hit and all plans became no plans! In late September, Carmy Baca, Chair of OLA’s Pastoral Council, said that the Giving Tree Ministry needed to continue no matter what.

We found a way! For 2020, the names of families from OLA’s St. Vincent de Paul Food Locker will be given to a Pastoral Council Giving Tree Ministry Committee. Although the Food Locker has been closed since the pandemic, each recipient family was contacted to assess current situations and needs. Celeste Depner oversaw the volunteer phone callers and put together the master list of our gift recipients. A mother signed up to receive gifts for the 14 children she has been caring for — 14! As a client in the spring, she had eight children, and then COVID-19 hit, and she took in six more children who needed a home!

The ministry was able to reach out to OLA’s parishioners this year by utilizing an online database featuring a list of unidentified families who requested gifts. Thanks to the incredible generosity of parishioners, all of the requested needs were filled within two days, and we were even able to add additional families to the list. Fifty families are being assisted through the program this year.

“We won’t get to have an actual ‘giving tree,’ but parishioners signed up online to buy things for the families, wrap them and return them to the parish in early December,” Carmy says. “We will use the food locker shelves to store the gifts, and on the distribution day volunteers will bring them out to the recipient families in their cars. It is a no-touch strategy. We are glad we have found a way to maneuver around the pandemic, and we believe it will work out very well.”

Amazingly, amid the coronavirus situation in our nation, the Giving Tree Ministry has been able to overcome great obstacles and keep itself up and running.

“At the end of the day, no one should ever have to spend Christmas without being remembered!” Carmy says.

OLA and its Giving Tree “Givers” make sure that every Giving Tree Family and its members are remembered. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. God’s blessings to you and yours in this most holy and joyful of seasons.

If you would like further information on this wonderful outreach of compassion, please contact Carmy Baca at 916-483-2980 or Casey Oliver at 916-335-1918.