BY STAFF REPORTS

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – For the recent National Hospital Week, Cherokee Nation’s W.W. Hastings and Tahlequah City Hospitals raised more than $1,300 for the CN Angel Tree Program. 

“This donation will go a long way towards making sure some deserving Cherokee kids have a great Christmas this year,” Principal Chief Bill John Baker said.

The $1,354 donation will ensure that 1,500 children from low-income families and area residents are well fed and have merrier 2012 holiday season. The hospitals also collected 1,180 canned food items for Care Food Pantry in Tahlequah.  

The money raised from the competition will buy gifts for those children not selected from the Angel Tree, said Brandy Lemley, program coordinator.

The Angel Tree is a Christmas donation program that allows the public to choose an ornament off a Christmas tree at Hastings or the Tribal Complex that contains the wish list of a child in the community.

 “The Angel Tree has never been a grant program, it’s always been through donations,” Lemley said. “Because (Hastings) is able to give these donations earlier we are able to help more people.”

The fundraising events included a golf tournament, relay races, water balloon volleyball, archery and the canned food drive.