CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – “People are more generous than you’ll ever know.” At least, that is Taylor County Family Resource Center Director Ann Mattingly’s take on the Campbellsville community.

Currently, Mattingly and her assistant, Lisa Milby-Beard, along with CU practicum students Leigh Anne Johnson, Ahdazsa Dye, and Deanna Barnes, and University of Louisville practicum student Denise Taylor, are as busy as Santa and his elves. That’s because since 1999, Mattingly has been running a clothing program during the holiday season called Angel Tree.

“Every year, we get teacher referrals on students ages birth – 18, who are in need of clothing and other essential items,” said Mattingly. Teachers begin referring students in need as early as October, then Mattingly and her staff get to work, preparing the angels for sponsorship. “First we contact the student’s parents to find out what the needs are and to get their permission to enter them into the Angel Tree program. Then, we enter each angel into a database and assign them a number instead of using their names [to protect confidentiality],” said Mattingly. They also cross-reference the referrals with the Holiday Help Line to ensure that theirs is the only community program the family is participating in. “This helps us spread the generosity,” she said.

Mattingly said the community’s generosity is evident because this year, a record 253 angels were in need of, and received, sponsors. “We are used to seeing an average of about 150 families signed up for the program,” she said.

When asked if she’d ever worried that they might not all be sponsored, she said she doesn’t let herself “go there.” Mattingly said she relies on generous individuals and lots of community sponsors including churches, banks, civic groups, and other businesses. “I have found that Taylor County has a lot of caring and compassionate people. When I get a little stressed [about all the angels receiving sponsors] I send out an email and people step up,” said Mattingly. Each sponsor is asked to provide the angels with one complete outfit (pants, shirt, shoes, socks and undergarments) and one toy.

Jill Moore, a member of Woodlawn Christian Church, said that her church sponsored 30 families this year and 10 of those were Angel Tree kids. “We know there are a lot of people out of work and a lot of kids who need things; we don’t want them to go without Christmas,” said Moore.

Parents are allowed to start picking up their child’s gifts the week before Christmas break; Mattingly and her staff also deliver the gifts to homes. “We like to offer a hand-up, not a hand-out. What we are experiencing with our economy is what I call situational poverty – not generational poverty,” said Mattingly. She added that the main goal of the FRC is to provide assistance and resources that help families get back on their feet.

One example of this is when Mattingly was visited by a mother who had arrived to pick up her child’s gifts. Mattingly said it was visible the mother had a serious illness. “She told me that she thought they’d never have to use the Angel Tree program, but that the program had really helped her because they were having a tough year,” said Mattingly.
Mattingly also remembers a particular family that used the program one year, and several years later came back and sponsored an angel. “That’s when you know you’ve made an impact,” she said.

Mattingly said there is one particular case that still stays fresh in her mind. “I remember one year it was Dec. 23 and a family with five children still hadn’t picked up their gifts.” Mattingly recalls having her own children with her, who were very young at the time, and loading them, along with the Angel Tree gifts, in her van and heading out to make a home delivery. When Mattingly’s daughter saw all the gifts in the back, she asked if they were rich. Mattingly recalls laughing at the question and responding, “Goodness, no!”

As she pulled up the drive to deliver the gifts, she noticed the whole family was working, milking cows and tending to their farm. Two of the younger children had their faces pressed to a barn window as they watched Mattingly unload gifts. When Mattingly was invited inside the family home, she noticed a well-worn Christmas tree with no gifts underneath it. As the gifts were placed under the tree, one of the children looked up at his mother and said, “Oh, Mama, look! We ARE going to have Christmas this year.”

Mattingly returned to her van, teary-eyed, looked at her daughter and said “Yes dear, we are rich.”

For more information about the Angel Tree program, contact Mattingly at ann.mattingly@taylor.kyschools.us.