By BECKY CRISSMAN

becky.crissman@gaflnews.com

CORDELE — Christmas is just around the corner. The day after Thanksgiving, stores will be bombarded with eager shoppers scrambling for the first sales of the Christmas season.

Shoppers are encouraged to add to their lists some of the hundreds of children in the local communities whose parents do not have the resources to provide them with Christmas gifts.

In some homes, there will be no presents to open, no stockings stuffed with sweet treats, and no Christmas dinner unless someone outside the home helps provide those extras.

No one has to look far to find someone to help. Spotlight Theatre and the Cordele Dispatch are assisting local agencies by providing “Angel Trees” in their places of business.

Each angel on a tree represents a boy or girl in need this holiday season. Ornaments which are made available by Gateway Center and the Department of Family & Children Services provide the age, gender, and Christmas wishes of a child within the community.

All donors have to do is take an angel, buy the gifts, and drop the items at either of the two locations.

Such a simple act of kindness can mean the world to a small child who otherwise would go without.

“This is the third year that Spotlight Theatre has participated in the Angel Tree. This is what Christmas is all about, the children,” said Lori Brian, co-owner of Spotlight Theatre of Cordele.

“There are about 70 angels on our tree right now. Three’s Company helped with the decorations and provided ornaments for the tree and they also worked hard to help get the tree up.

“Georgia Design Center has already committed to donating some of the proceeds from the upcoming Christmas Tour of Homes to the Angel Tree.”

“The Angel Tree is a project of the Gateway Center,” said Deborah Smith, director of the Crisp and Dooly County DFACS office.

“We work in collaboration with them to provide the wishes for the each angel represented. We have served many children throughout the community since the program began. We hope to serve as many as 300 local children this year.”