Good Samaritan employees have been busy these past few weeks purchasing gifts for the hospital’s annual Giving Tree. Thanks to their generosity during this holiday season, 159 children had a little something extra for them under the tree Christmas morning.

Through the Giving Tree program, hospital employees bought Christmas gifts for less-fortunate children in the Vincennes Community, South Knox and North Knox elementary schools. Hundreds of gifts were collected for these children including toys, clothing, games, crafts and other necessities.

Rob McLin, President and CEO of Good Samaritan says the tradition of the Giving Tree gives hospital employees the opportunity to help families in need. “This year has been especially hard on the families in our community,” said McLin. “I knew that no matter the circumstances, our employees would continue to help these children in need. The room where these gifts are stored was once again overfilled with gifts and every child on our tree will have presents Christmas morning.”

For the Giving Tree, each of the grade schools provided the hospital with information on 20 to 25 children who were in need on Christmas. The parents of the children fill out anonymous information forms that include only the child’s sizes, interests, favorite colors and wishes. The information along with the child’s age is added to a tag, which is hung on a hospital tree. Good Samaritan employees then choose the children they would like to buy gifts for this Christmas.

Good Samaritan started the Giving Tree program almost 30 years ago as a way to give something back to the community while also ensuring the children of Knox County have a wonderful and meaningful Christmas.

Employees also donated numerous Christmas stockings to the residents in local nursing homes this year. “We have been collecting stockings for the past few years to donate to the local nursing homes,” said Debbie Swain, Community Relations Specialist. “We especially wanted to collect them this year because we know it has been hard on the residents in the nursing homes being quarantined from their family and friends. The stockings will hopefully bring a little extra Christmas cheer to them this year.”

Each stocking was filled with various items for residents that included items such as: small calendars, lotion, socks, lip balm, body wash, word search books, toothbrushes and more. The stockings and the articles inside are donated by Good Samaritan employees. This year, the South Knox Elementary second grade class also decided to donate stockings instead of exchanging gifts with each other. The hospital collected almost 300 Christmas stockings this year that will be given to all nursing home residents in four local nursing homes.

The Marketing Department at Good Samaritan coordinates the Giving Tree and stocking donation each holiday season. “All the employees continue to amaze us with their generosity,” said Tiffany Conover, Director of Marketing. “All of our Giving Tree tags are sponsored each year and the number of stockings we collect continues to grow. We look forward to this time of year and really enjoy spreading Christmas cheer throughout our community.”