Program serves dozens of local families
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
Generous community members can be a hero for local families this Christmas, by purchasing a gift asked for by a local child in need.
The Big Sky Rotary Club’s Giving Tree was placed at the new post office on Nov. 21. The tree is decorated with tags, each listing a gift desired by a Big Sky child worth $100 or less. Participating donors can take a tag and fulfill a child’s wish by purchasing the requested gift and dropping it at collection bins located at American Bank or First Security Bank.
“You kind of don’t think that there’s a lot of families looking for help in Big Sky,” said Melissa Alger, who volunteers on the Rotary-led committee in charge of the annual tradition. She said there’s many fortunate kids in the community, but many need help too.
For reference, the Big Sky Community Food Bank doubled its services in fiscal year 2023. Typically, demand only grows by roughly 10% each year, according to Sarah Gaither, operations manager at the food bank.
“In one year, we saw a 97% increase, which of course is crazy,” Gaither said. Since COVID, the food bank has served more families and senior citizens than ever, and now supports 1,100 households per year—almost one-third of Big Sky’s working-age seasonal workers visit the food bank—which Gaither believes is a significant portion of the Big Sky community. “We are up to 45 to 50 families with children,” she added.
And for many of those families, the Giving Tree program can free up space in their budgets for essential bills. A few families have stayed involved for years, and the tradition helps them give their kids a good Christmas, Alger said. Local schools and the food bank help identify families in need, inviting them to fill out wish lists or “Santa letters” processed by the Giving Tree committee.
Once gifts are donated, they are wrapped at a large party—this year, the event is Dec. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m.at The Wilson Hotel—and then delivered to homes that evening.
Alger said simply buying one gift, attending the gift-wrapping party or helping deliver wrapped gifts is enough to make a difference.
“It’s all appreciated and needed,” Alger said.
On Christmas Day, Alger said volunteers will often receive text messages with photos and videos of local kids, ecstatic and grateful to receive the Christmas gift they wished for.
Families also receive gift cards for gas and groceries, and a gingerbread house kit for the family to build together. Kids receive stockings with a pair of winter gloves, a winter hat, an age-appropriate toy and some candy.
“Week after week there are fewer and fewer [tags] because it means people are picking them out… it’s heartwarming to see the support from the community,” Gaither said, stressing how grateful the families are for this program.
Gaither added that the application became available in Spanish in recent years, and the program now serves many Spanish-speaking families.
Gracious givers can grab tags and deliver gifts between now and Dec. 11, giving volunteers a few days to collect gifts from donation bins and prepare them for the Dec. 19 wrapping party.
The Giving Tree will also feature QR codes, allowing post office visitors to scan and donate money in lieu of purchasing a gift. If any wishes aren’t fulfilled by Dec. 11, Rotary will use the cash donations to purchase them and make sure every child gets what they ask for.
Growth
The tradition has been alive for more than a decade and has grown since its beginnings when gifts were delivered to a volunteer’s garage.
In 2023, there were enough gifts to fill a restaurant—gifts took up the former Lotus Pad space, which sat empty for a few months before it was converted into Blindside Burger.
In the first few years, Gaither said maybe five to eight food bank customers with kids would get involved. That’s probably now up to 20 to 30 families, she said, not counting those who sign up through the schools.
“It’s just kind of grown and grown, and it’s gotten to the point where we ask around in the community for a place where we can stage the gifts,” Alger said.
Since the program’s beginning, the tree was kept in the Big Sky Post Office, which closed in July.
Alger said it was a big hurdle to get into the new post office. Initially, the postmaster declined to host the tree, explaining they can’t even hang posters not related to USPS in the facility.
“We know how much this helps the community, and we know that the post office… is the ideal spot, because it’s open all the time,” Alger said. She brought the pushback to the committee, and through the volunteers’ local connections including the Kircher family, owner and developer of the building, and Alpine Property Management, they earned permission.
Alger estimates as many as 50 people attended the gift-wrapping party in 2023. She encourages anyone to attend, even for just a few minutes to jump in and wrap a few gifts.
“We get a lot of people, to the point where we run out of room for people to wrap,” she said. “It’s great… Some of the tables get full, and it’s a really fun sight to see.”
