Gifts abound under holiday giving trees

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but generosity does.

Especially in La Conner.

Christmas joy for dozens of families here has been assured thanks to strong support for a pair of local holiday giving tree projects, one coordinated by La Conner Kiwanis and Edward Jones Investments, the other by La Conner Soroptimists and WaFd Bank.

Edward Jones and WaFd customers returned armloads of packages after selecting children’s gift wish tags from holiday trees on display in the offices of the two La Conner businesses.

“We ended up with about 100 tags on the tree,” said Edward Jones office administrator and La Conner Kiwanis secretary Connie Moore, “and some people brought in five or six packages per child.”

The Kiwanis gift drive was jump-started by the La Conner Braves Club. Its director, Marlene Breton, brought in 62 tags representing 31 children and 15 families. Each tag identified a child’s age, gender and desired gift.

Moore and Edward Jones financial advisor Scott Price purchased blankets for children who had them listed on their tags, allowing other donors to focus on providing toy items.

“It was definitely a community effort,” said Moore, who also cited participation by La Conner Weekly News and the Forgotten Children’s Fund.

“It was really overwhelming,” she said. “People were bringing in package after package. We ended up with a whole lot more packages. We had multiple pledges per child.”

La Conner Kiwanis has a long tradition of serving local children and their families during the holidays, having launched a Christmas toy drive here in the early 1980s.

“That’s the mission of Kiwanis,” Moore said. “We do whatever can be done to make children’s lives better.”

That same holiday spirit was much in evidence in the WaFd lobby, where donated food and gifts were sprawled beneath the bank’s Christmas tree and spread across much of the floor.

“We’re very thankful to do this,” said WaFd La Conner branch manager Tami Mason, adding that this is the second straight year the bank has teamed with La Conner Soroptimists to sponsor a giving tree.

“We reached out last year (to La Conner Soroptimists) and it went so well that we decided to do it again this year,” Mason said.

The Soroptimists expressed their appreciation with a framed “thank you” certificate presented to Mason and the WaFd staff, noting that the bank’s giving tree had received over 100 gifts on behalf of 20 La Conner area families.

It was La Conner Soroptimists who provided the WaFd gift wish tags and it is they who will deliver the presents along with gift cards this week.

Mason, in turn, heaped praise last Friday on WaFd customers and community members. She said they stepped up despite hardships imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our lobby has been closed,” she said, “so people would make appointments to come by to pick up tags or would do so while at our drive-through window.”

Mason wasn’t surprised La Conner rallied to the cause despite trying times.

“La Conner,” she stressed, “is a very giving town.”