The Clearwater Valley Hospital Wishing Tree is a community sponsored charity run by the CVH Foundation Emergency Fund. The Wishing Tree is a non- profit charity event that helps local children ages 12 and under, (no teens) within School District 171, to receive Christmas gifts that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

The Wishing Tree will be set up on November 14th and is located in the CVH Hospital Outpatient Clinic Lobby. We ask that if you take a star, you sign it out so we can keep track of families. Sign out is in the Outpatient Clinic by the tree.

Custodial parents or guardians can sign up any eligible child for a star between now and December 5th. This will allow time for gifts to be purchased or supplemented. “Parents can call us at 476-8035 to sign up,” says Iola Plank, CVHC Foundation Emergency Fund Committee Member. “We obtain the child’s wants and also needs, clothing size, age and sex. It is important to have this info before calling so we can put accurate info on the star, as we can’t change it once a star is taken. We also need a phone number where they can be reached to return the gifts when they come in.”

“We love for people to take stars but if they can’t shop for them, checks can be made out to CVH Foundation Wishing Tree,” says Plank. “We do rely on cash donations for the purchase of gift bags, tissue etc. and also to supplement shopping. Many times one child in the family is lavished with gifts and these funds go to “even out” the wants and needs for the remaining children in the family. Unfortunately we also use these funds to purchase for stars that were not taken or never returned. We ask that if you take a star, you sign it out so we can keep track of families. The sign out sheet is in the Outpatient Clinic by the tree. If you take a star and cannot provide for it, please return it to the tree, no questions asked.”

There is a limit of $45.00 on the requests so no Nintendo, Xbox or extravagant requests are allowed. (People who take stars can certainly spend whatever they are able/willing to!)

“We arrange the stars anonymously by a numbered system and place it on the tree,” says Plank. “Gifts are to be returned to CVH hospital with the star used as a gift tag no later than Monday December 12th so we can distribute them to the families before Christmas. We rely on employees and members from our community to come and take the stars, shop for them and return wrapped or bagged gifts to us where they are distributed to the parents or guardians of the children.”

“The Wishing Tree averages 100 or more children during the holiday season and we find that with the unstable economic times this number seems to continue to rise. Every star is a child in need. The CVH Foundation Emergency Fund Committee thanks you for your support at this special time of year!” says Plank.