Thanks to many generous donors in the community, 276 children who may not have gotten to open presents on Christmas morning will get to experience that great joy.
The AngelFISH program, which is conducted by Oxford/Orion FISH, is a holiday gift program that pairs needy children (up to age 17) and their Christmas wish list with the donors.
This year, 70 individuals or families and 20 groups, churches and businesses donated gifts to the children.
On Friday, volunteers crowded Myrick Hall at St. Joseph Church in Orion to sort the gifts, ranging from dolls and clothes to warm blankets and sleds.
Members of the Oxford High School FIRST Robotics team and Math Club were also on hand to help empty a bus-load of 403 toys a Dryden school bus driver collected from her students.
Dubbed the ‘Fill-A-Bus? project, Metamora resident Sheryl Borneman asked her young bus riders to consider making a toy donation to AngelFISH.
Borneman said she rotates which charity she collects for every Christmas season and FISH happened to fall on this year’s list.
FISH volunteers Marybeth Buckbee, Linda Gyorkey and Elizabeth Ballard were the main coordinators of the AngelFISH program, now in its fourth year.
Buckbee said the donors have been ‘amazing? in their giving this year.
‘It’s a complete contrast of the media hype of the supposed poor economy in Michigan,? she said.
All of the gifts were distributed Saturday to the 123 families who are a part of the AngelFISH program.