Every year around the holidays, my family and I like to give back to our community and make sure everyone enjoys the magic of the holidays, even those less fortunate than us in our own neighborhood.

The nurses from our local school district put together the Angel Tree Project, which helps grant holiday wishes for local families in need. Every year at Newtown Post Office and Northampton Library, there is a Christmas tree with tags with gift requests from children and families of all ages. The families are not identified for confidentiality, but they tell you the ages to help guide you.

Gift requests range from toys to clothing to wallets to blankets and more. This year we took about six angels; some were for individual kids and others were for families. There isn’t a limit on how many you can take, so we always take a few.

Once you buy the gifts, you return the gift and tag to the location where you got it, and they take care of the rest. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and I look forward to it every year. If your local community has a project like this, I highly recommend participating!

— Mary Melnick, social media and editorial coordinator