AKRON — Anyone looking for a way to give back this Christmas season can sponsor a family in need within the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation through the Miracle Tree program.

Miracle Tree has been a holiday tradition in the Rochester community for more than a decade thanks to the Mill Creek Missionary Church, but because of an increase in the amount of people from the Tippecanoe Valley area seeking assistance, the decision was made last year to expand the program.

Trees were set up on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Bell Memorial Public Library in Mentone and also Akron Carnegie Public Library. Families throughout the Tippecanoe Valley community who have expressed an interest in receiving help this year were assigned a number. Those numbers were then placed on ornaments and hung on the trees. The number lets a potential sponsor know how many children are in each family and their ages.

“Each family has a wish list for the sponsors to use when shopping, filled with clothing sizes and toys requested,” said Darren Parker, an instructor at Tippecanoe Valley High School and a member of Mill Creek Missionary Church.

If a person, business or organization is interested in sponsoring a family, they simply take an ornament from the tree and give it to the circulation desk at either library. The sponsor is then provided a wish list for that family with items the children might want for Christmas.

Sponsors wrap the gifts they purchase and then return them back to a community location specified on each wish list. To avoid any confusion, there are specific instructions on each wish list on how to mark the gift after it has been wrapped, so organizers know which gift belongs to which family and child.

Gifts must be returned by Friday, Dec. 8. There is no limit to the amount of money a sponsor can spend on a family. Gifts will be distributed to each family on a special night in December. The church will cater a meal, provide activities for the children and take family pictures.

122 families with children attending a Tippecanoe Valley school received assistance through the Miracle Tree program last year.