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Enchant family and surrounding community donate to Angel Tree

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Vauxhall Advance

By Cole Parkinson
Vauxhall Advance
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

It’s starting to look and feel like Christmas outdoors and a family in Enchant, along with the surrounding community, have donated over 200 plus gifts to the Angel Tree Toy Depot in Lethbridge.

Emily and Alex Geerligs donated last year after their baby daughter Madison passed away, and they decided to commemorate what would have been her first birthday by donating to the Angel Tree Toy Depot. On Nov. 14, the Geerligs once again delivered tons of gifts that will be handed out to children in need this Christmas season.

“We hosted our first toy drive last year and it is in memory of our daughter who we lost. It was very successful last year and we weren’t sure we wanted to ask people to do it again, but we had some friends ask if we were doing it and we thought we better do it — I think it’s even bigger than last year,” Emily explained.

“This is something that we weren’t able to do for our daughter, and so, it just means the world that we can do it for all the kids who aren’t as fortunate.”

With two years down, the family is expecting this to continue next year as well. While they were the main source of getting this big donation together, the communities of Enchant and Vauxhall have been instrumental in contributing with gifts and cash.

“I think we better (continue). I believe it just gets bigger and bigger,” added Emily.

“We’re just really fortunate the community that we live in — Vauxhall, Enchant, and the surrounding area. The big part of this toy drive for this year, actually was Vauxhall Minor Hockey,” explained Alex. “They heard we were doing it again just because of family and friends, and they had said they wanted to do a fill the net campaign. So, they advertised it out to all the families and we actually hosted that two Saturdays ago. We had a home game for the under-seven team and all of the players and families brought toys, and that was kind of the jump start for it all. It’s a big community effort to do this and we’re thankful for the support we have from the community.”

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