Every holiday season, children across the country wake up on Christmas morning to find presents under their Christmas tree, but for many families who struggle financially, providing those gifts is not always possible.
The Angel Tree program, a 45-year partnership between The Salvation Army and Walmart, addresses this need by providing new clothing and toys to over one million children annually. Families in need register their children with The Salvation Army and each child’s wish list gets placed on a tag hung on Angel Tree displays in Walmart stores. Shoppers pick a tag, purchase the items and return the unwrapped gifts to collection bins.
This year, the program has exploded across social media. TikTok influencers are filming themselves shopping for Angel Tree children, with the hashtag #angeltree, reaching 179.5 million views. Content creators like Clara Peirce and Serena Neel have turned charitable giving into a viral movement, inspiring millions of followers to participate and emptying Angel Tree displays across the country.
While influencers are promoting Angel Tree programs nationwide, Wando students have their own opportunity to make a local impact through Dream Weavers.
Supporting Wando Families
Parent Educator Susan Antonelli, who helps coordinate Dream Weavers, explained the reality behind common perceptions of the school.
“Wando can be perceived as this affluent high school in an affluent area, but we actually have, right now, around 400 students who potentially live in poverty, who are identified as living below the poverty line,” Antonelli said. “Those students need support just like they would if they were in any other school.”
Dream Weavers was established years ago by former assistant principal Cheryl Swinton to address this hidden need. The program works differently than traditional Angel Tree initiatives, focusing on gift cards rather than specific wish lists.
“In high school, it’s tricky because teenagers really have their own preferences and style preferences,” Antonelli said. “Even if a teenager says, ‘I want a pair of jeans that are size 10,’ well, what does that mean? What kind of jeans do they like? We learned over the years that it’s really better to just give a student at Wando a gift card to a store like Target or Walmart and let them decide what they want to do with it.”
This flexibility allows students to use the support however they need most.
“We’ve had students say they’re going to use it to buy gifts for their family or they’re going to use it to buy groceries for their family, or they’re going to use it to get their own clothes,” Antonelli said. “So it really varies what kids end up doing with it.”
More Than a Holiday Program
What sets Dream Weavers apart from seasonal Angel Tree programs is its year-round support and its response to unexpected crises.
“You can come in and out of financial hardship,” Antonelli said. “It’s not like a state you exist in all the time.”
The program has stepped in for emergencies that go beyond typical holiday needs.
“We’ve had kids whose parents got in a horrible wreck, so both parents were in the hospital. We were able to just give him some food gift cards because it was just him and his little sister,” Antonelli said. “We’ve had kids who have house fires.”
Dream Weavers also operates the Warrior Wardrobe, providing free clothing, shoes and hygiene products throughout the school year.
Financial hardship at Wando does not fit one profile.
How to Help
Dream Weavers runs on community support, and there are multiple ways to contribute.
“Usually once a year, [principal] Coker will send an email out to all the families and just kind of explain what Dream Weavers is and give a link where they can donate,” Antonelli said. “Some clubs are running drives and teachers sometimes give them and the PTSO actually donated a bunch of gift cards for this outreach.”
For students who need support, help is accessible and judgment-free.
“We try to work with the counselors and the administrators and the social worker to really identify which students are needing this level of support,” she says. “We try to offer them multiple supports.”
Just like the viral Angel Tree movement sweeping TikTok, Wando students have the power to make a real difference in their own community. The need is here, and so is the opportunity to help.
“It’s sort of our way just to show that we care and we support, and we want to help meet their material needs if they’re experiencing financial hardship,” Antonelli said.
