GFD again supports the Giving Tree

Members of the Greencastle Fire Department recently converged on the Greencastle Walmart store to shop for a family in need through the Greencastle Christian Church Giving Tree. Those participating in the shopping trip included family members (front) Lauren Elkins and Tyler Christopher and GFD personnel (from left) Jonathan Hawkins, Jeff Elkins, John Burgess, Jeff Cox, Kenny Shepherd, Daniel Hendry, Brooke Taylor, Pat Carrico, Liz Christopher, Brian Poole, Paul Hinton, Rob Frank and Bill Newgent. Carrico, who passed away on Sunday, Dec. 15, took part in the Giving Tree shopping on the Wednesday prior, his final work day at the fire department.

It's getting close to Christmas, and everyone is getting their last-minute shopping in. This also means it's that time of year again for the now annual "Giving Tree" by the Greencastle Fire Department.

For anyone unfamiliar with the story of the Giving Tree, a firefighter's daughter, Lauren Elkins, spoke to her father about having GFD do something for a needy family over the holiday season.

Chief Bill Newgent organized the idea with his church, Greencastle Christian Church, which helps find a family in need and gets the child's age and gender, as well as a small wish list.

Each firefighter on GFD donated a minimum of $10 toward this sponsorship, and they got together at Walmart on Wednesday, Dec. 11 to shop for the children they sponsored.

The carts were full of all sorts of different items from the wish lists, including movies, basketballs, socks, jeans, shirts and toys. All the items were collected for each child by the firefighters, and taken up front for checkout.

Walmart wanted to participate in the donations and did its part in giving 10 percent off the purchase.

This was a great experience for the department, its members, and their families to be able to come together and collect the gifts for these sponsored children.

We hope they have a very Merry Christmas, as well as the rest of Greencastle.