The Choctaw Plaindealer

On Monday, December 18, the office of Community Counseling Services (CCS) found itself overflowing with presents delivered by Enon Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Enon Church collected over 120 presents through its Angel Tree gift collection. Approximately 70 of the gifts donated by church members were given to the local Community Counseling Services office, where they where then divided and distributed to local families and children.

The remainder of the gift donation was distributed by Enon Church to families in the area. According to Sonya Pyron, organizer of the gift drive, each of the gifts donated will be given to a family inside Choctaw County.

For the fourth year in a row Enon Cumberland Presbyterian has put up what they call the Angel Tree. The Angel Tree is a Christmas tree decorated with the names of children in the community. The tree helps local families meet basic needs, while also providing children with gifts at Christmas time. Church members choose the names off of the tree and it is then that member's responsibility to purchase a gift for that child.

Along with the child's name the church members are given a small list of items the child needs. Once the gift is purchased it is brought back to the church where it will then be delivered to the child in time for Christmas.

This is the first year that all of the gifts went to help local families during the Christmas season.

According to Pyron, in the past the program provided presents for families in neighboring counties because the response to the program was not as great as it proved to be in 2006. Enon Church worked with the CCS to find children and families in need of assistance.

Ray Evins, Choctaw County Administrator for CCS, found himself amazed with the amount of gifts produced by Enon church and their overall willingness to give.

"The members gave to children who are not part of their church family, and to children they do not know," said Evins. "They gave in a big way and for that we would like to express our gratitude to the Enon Church family. Christmas day will possess a certain level of hope and cheer for all children in our services because some caring and unselfish community members took time to share the love of Christ."

Enon Church claims this is the biggest turnout ever of Christmas gift donations it has seen since the creation of the Angel Tree.

"This is by far our biggest year with the Angel Tree. It continues to grow larger each year and we will continue to have the Angel Tree as long as it help to members of the community," said Pyron.