Team AEDC shows true meaning of Christmas with Angel Tree program

  • Published
  • By Raquel March and Kathy Gattis
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Due to the generosity of Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) personnel and the AEDC Angel Tree program, 101 children will receive gifts for Christmas.

Each year, personnel at the Complex choose an angel from the electronic AEDC Angel Tree list and purchase Christmas gifts according to the angel's wishes, needs and information provided. The angels are children that might not otherwise receive gifts from family members due to economic constraints.

Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) Employee and Community Activities Committee (E&CAC) President Tony Medley expressed how this giving opportunity is important for employees and the angels.

"This event is a wonderful opportunity for the employees to spread their love and joy to others," Medley said. "I believe that each employee has worked hard to get where they are in life. There is no greater gift to one's self than to receive the gift of knowing that you have made a difference in someone else's life.

"The kids that receive these gifts from our employees may or may not realize just how special they are to receive gifts from people who do not know them but want to share their love and kindness just to provide happiness and joy in someone else's life. Another great thing about the gifts that the employees give are that they are given twice; first to the parents and secondly to the children."

Sue Fletcher, a manager with the South Central Relative Caregiver Program, said that she is amazed at the generosity that the community provides.

"Christmastime is a time that the angel tree volunteers of ATA go above and beyond the expected or token Christmas gifts for needy families," Fletcher said. "It is the most incredible feeling to be able to hand gifts to a grandmother who is on a fixed income struggling to cover medication, worrying over safe place to live that she can afford, plus transportation, and is providing for someone else's children with no remuneration or support."

Fletcher continued to say that because of the gracious attitudes of AEDC personnel, the caregiver program is able to provide the grandmother with gifts that she can present to the children under her care.

In a "thank you" message to Complex personnel, the Angel Tree Committee expressed appreciation for gifts, including 16 bicycles, which were loaded into five vehicles.

"The bicycles were donated by individual angel sponsors," said Janet Gammon, the ATA E&CAC Angel Tree committee chairperson. "Each angel had a needs list and a wish list. If the child wanted a bicycle, the sponsor purchased a bicycle. That is what makes AEDC so awesome."

Gammon expressed appreciation for volunteers and for assistance with a collection location from Bryan Larson, with the Arnold Services Office, and Dwight Mosley, with Information International Associates in the ATA Performance Management Department.

Medley said he wasn't surprised by the outpouring of participation from personnel.

"No matter whether our employees are challenged to be the greatest world leaders in aerospace or asked to contribute things to help those less fortunate, I have always found that everyone is willing to go the extra mile," he said. "This is why our employees make this program a huge success."

The members of the ATA Employee and Community Activities Committee and AEDC volunteers sorted and compiled gifts for counselors from two community organizations. The counselors collected the gifts on Dec. 10.

The organizations that benefited from AEDC donations include the Healthy Families Program and the South Central Relative Caregiver Program.

The Healthy Families Program serves families in Bedford, Franklin, Lincoln and Marshall counties. The program helps first-time parents adjust to their new and demanding role providing skills necessary to reduce family stress and improve family function.

The South Central Relative Caregiver Program serves individuals in Bedford, Coffee, Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Perry and Wayne counties. This program provides support services to caregivers and their related minor children in order to divert children from state custody. The program is partnered with the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.