Salvation Army's Angel Tree, Who Knew it started here!
Every Christmas, I make it a point to get angels from the Angel Tree. Sometimes I gather them at the mall, sometimes I call in to 92.9 radio and get them during their angel drive. Either way, I 
think it's an important way to give back.
Earlier in the week there was an article in the Tennessean about the couple who started the Angel Trees back in 1979!
Charles and Shirley White grew up in the Salvation Army church in Owensboro, KY. They went to school together and married in 1965. They immediately went to Atlanta to attend the Salvation Army Officers training school.
The Salvation Army is actually a denomination in the Christian Church. Thus, as officers, they were assigned to a community. In 1979 they had they idea and placed the first Angel Tree in the mall in Lynchburg, Virginia.
3 years later they moved to Nashville and brought the idea with them. The first Angel Trees were in 100 Oaks, Green Hills and Hickory Hollow malls.
Mr. White says this is where it really took off! Country Music singer Jimmy Wayne says he was 10 when he got his first Angel gift. A few years later he wished for a guitar and on that Christmas morning, it's exactly what he got.
Imagine how that set him on the road to be a successful musician! In 2004 he wrote a song, "Paper Angels", to raise awareness about the program.
This is now a Nationwide successful program. In the Nashville area alone over 85000 gifts were distributed to over 18 thousand needy children and elderly.
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