Giving Tree Program

“The Giving Tree” is a beautiful parish-wide family-to-family program through which CCOP families provide Christmas gifts to families-in-need in poorer parishes throughout Alameda County.  This program often provides the only Christmas gifts the families will receive.  The ministry succeeds through the combined efforts of parishioner teams and individual parishioners:
​
  • A “Giving Tree” team contacts ten parishes in the Diocese, including CCOP’s local St. Vincent de Paul Society, to gather the names and needs of up to 50 families per parish.  CCOP typically adopts about 450 families for the annual Giving Tree program.
  • Another team prepares individual family envelopes with lists of their needs for distribution at weekend masses in November.  CCOP parishioners adopt a family by signing-out an envelope.
  • The CCOP families then shop for their adopted family, and wrap and deliver the gifts early in December to the rectory “North Pole Transit Center” staffed by a team of adults and teens.
  • Parishioners who are not able to adopt a family, donate cash or specifically needed items.
  • On “Delivery Day,” parishioners with trucks, vans and several large donated trucks deliver the gifts to the supported Parishes. 
  • The supported parishes maintain anonymity as they distribute the gifts to the adopted families. 
 
We invite you to engage in this wonderful ministry together with fellow parishioners and families, and experience the true meaning of Christmas giving.  You will receive joy from imagining the joy of a child opening a present on their wish list, and pleasure from knowing that you helped make it possible for parents in need to enjoy the pleasure of providing gifts to their family.
 
Thank you for your participation in this ministry and your generosity.
 
If you have any questions, please contact Roxanne Rasmussen at roxanneras@gmail.com.