Each holiday season, the Eagle River Sleeping Lady Mountain Lions Club sponsors the Tree of Giving service project. The hope of Christmas is brought to youth in the Chugiak/Eagle River community who otherwise may not have known this hope. Working together with local schools, merchants and community groups and individuals, children receive needs such as clothing and personal hygiene products, and always items off their wish lists. This would not be possible without the caring and generous outpouring from the community.
The 2022 holiday season brought unprecedented challenges of record snows and school closures, all of which impacted Tree of Giving sponsors. Difficult travel made it hard to shop for the children and for groups to coordinate efforts internally. The good news is the needs and wants were fulfilled despite the challenges.
The Sleeping Lady Mountain Lions are grateful to everyone who helped make the 2022 Tree of Giving such a success. There is a particular group of sponsors deserving of public recognition and thanks: the Gruening Middle School Junior Honor Society and Gruening staff. This amazing group of young citizens and their mentors consistently go above and beyond to sponsor multiple families in the Tree of Giving. The excitement they show by shopping for and wrapping gifts (which Santa would be proud to claim) is beyond amazing. And, in addition to student efforts, school staff provide a holiday dinner — fit for a king, for each family sponsored!
Thank you, Gruening Junior Honor Society and school staff, for your above-and-beyond service. You are nothing short of amazing!
— Valerie Bale
Eagle River Sleeping Lady Mountain Lions Club
Eagle River
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