Angel trees are going up throughout the valley, supported by various  programs throughout Parachute, Rifle, Silt, New Castle, Glenwood Springs and Carbondale. 

In Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, the Roaring Forks Children’s Foundation Christmas Program is running two angel trees decorated with children’s tags. The trees are located at Bighorn Toyota and City Market, where community members can help fulfill children’s wishes.

“We’ve been doing this for at least 10 years,” said Lindsay Gould, founder of the Roaring Forks Children’s Foundation. “We fund kids up through high school.”

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Many families in the valley struggle to afford necessities for their children, which has been made worse by rising costs. 

“We used to say it would be $30 per tag, but we’ve seen that go up,” Gould said. “A typical tag now is $50.”

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Gould said she does extra fundraising for the kids who weren’t picked from the trees or supplemented, which is about 10% of the children. 

“It can be a significant amount of money, if we’re spending $50 per child and typically, each town has 275-300 or more kids,” Gould explained. “Especially if there’s a clothing request.”

This extra fundraising often totals $1,000-2,000. Gould said she specifically fills the requests for clothing items. 

“If a child is writing a piece of clothing into a gifting program, they must really need it,” Gould said. 

Gould noted that unfilled requests are mostly for teenagers. The program allows teens up to age 18 to participate in the angel tree initiative.

“It might not be as fun to fill that request,” she guessed. “But I don’t really know why.”

Gould asked to emphasize filling clothing requests this year. 

“Please prioritize clothing requests from children,” she said. “Snow pants, mittens, coats, hats, if you can.”

Gould said she appreciates how the community responds to the angel trees and getting as many filled as possible. 

“The community really rallies around this,” she said. “It’s been really successful and everyone just knows what to do.”

Gould said they work with other nonprofits and the schools in the area to identify children who are in need of some Christmas cheer. 

“Sheila Maurer runs the tree in Rifle and Garfield Re-16 runs the one in Parachute,” she said. “We get names from the department of human services, Advocate Safehouse and a lot of other different places.”

The 501(c)3 works in conjunction with other gift giving events, like the Shop with a Cop events. 

“We work really hard to make sure that there aren’t any duplications,” Gould said. “We only had a few this year.”

No duplications means more children get more needs filled. 

“We find the families and vet them, but we only fill the needs of the children,” Gould clarified. “Other places, like Christmas Baskets, work with whole families, but we get the kids.”

Gould appreciates everyone who has filled requests in the past or is willing to fill one in the future. 

“It helps families with getting some extra Christmas cheer,” she said. 

Angel trees are located at Bighorn Toyota, 130 Center Dr., and City Market, 1410 Grand Ave., in Glenwood Springs.

For those unable to fill any angel tree request but still wanting to help, visit roaringforkchildrensfoundation.org/.