NORFOLK, Va. — It was 1984.
The partnership between the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program and 13News Now had just begun, five years after the program first started in 1979.
The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program has been a part of the holiday season in Hampton Roads for more than four decades. Every Christmas, dozens of businesses, churches, companies, and others have put up an Angel Tree filled with tags that have clothing needs of children on them. People take a tag and shop for the need listed for a specific child.
Along with the familiar Red Kettles, the Angel Tree program is one of The Salvation Army’s highest-profile Christmas efforts.
Angel Tree was created by The Salvation Army by Lt. Colonels Charles and Shirley White when they worked with a Lynchburg, Virginia shopping mall to provide clothing and toys for children at Christmas time.
The program got its name because the Whites identified local children’s wishes by writing their gift needs on Hallmark greeting cards that featured angels’ pictures. They placed the cards on a Christmas tree at the mall to allow shoppers to select children to help. Thanks to the Whites, more than 700 children had a brighter Christmas that first year.
Three years later, after being transferred to Nashville, Tennessee, the Whites launched the Angel tree program in Music City. WSM radio, which airs the Grand Ol’ Opry, came on board that year as the first Angel Tree co-sponsor in the U.S.