The Giving Tree is an artificial tree set up in the office here at HBHS every December in order to help grant the wishes of children in need.

This year, it was assembled and moved into the office by this reporter. Paper mittens were put on the tree with a child’s requested gift written on it, which people can take off and to buy the inscripted gift.

There are blue mittens and yellow mittens, the blue ones represent the Soup Kitchen and the yellow ones represent the Shepherds Fund, these are for foundations who deliver the gifts bought by HB staff and students.

The children who are being given gifts range from fifteen months to eighteen years old, which leads to quite the variety of requested items. This project is run by our own Community of Caring, which Consists of staff members Bridget Macmillan, Becky Balfour and Bonnie Del Signore with help from Candice Hancock.

If there are any unfilled requests Macmillan and Balfour go to Wal-Mart and buy the remaining items at a special discount with the money Balfour receives from fundraisers she holds. The reason they are both so passionate about this is because they both received the charity of such events when they were young according to Macmillan This HB tradition has been held for the past twenty years.
Macmillan has been here for nineteen of those years and has been apart of it the entire time. For twenty years the giving tree has been a tradition of HBHS, of giving to those in need. But HBHS is not the only participant in this year’s event. HBMS has had their own last mitten removed from the tree on December 7, so it looks like they are ahead of us. Let’s not keep it that way, so make sure to check out the tree.