A gift drive for families and children living in the Southern End will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 14, and Saturday, Dec. 17, at Memorial United Methodist Church, 101 S. Hess St., Quarryville. The event will replace the previously held Solanco toy drive and has been extended to include all children 18 years old or younger.

The Solanco School District will accept donations until Sunday, Dec. 11, at all Solanco schools, as well as the administration building. The drive is being coordinated by Avery Hill, Shanna Hecker and Amanda Esterly, who are all social workers in the Solanco School District.

Hill operates a concurrent Angel Tree project for students in Solanco and has made adjustments to the program to ensure that all students in need are taken care of during the holiday season. The Angel Tree program collects wish lists from over 100 students each year and acquires five items from each list to gift to students.

This year, the Angel Tree program will be limited to those experiencing homelessness; all other students will be covered under the new gift drive. "We're expanding on what the toy drive has done for years," said Hill. "Now that we're doing the drive in addition to the Angel Tree project, we needed to scale (Angel Tree) back. The gift drive historically covers the younger age groups."

The Angel Tree project began around a decade ago, as an initiative to acknowledge students that are experiencing homelessness in Solanco and ensure they experience a nice holiday. The program has grown over the years and received a great deal of support from the community; it is now able to include children over the age of 12, as well as add basic necessities such as winter coats to the list of items given out.

"There has never been a year where we've had a request that has gone unfulfilled," said Hill. "I get requests up to the day before Christmas break for donations. Our community is so supportive of the students that we can always accommodate those in need." If the change in the drive goes well, Hill said she hopes to continue the new system next year. Due to the larger scope of students covered, the drive needed to change locations to Memorial United Methodist Church to provide the needed space.

To register for the gift drive, visit https://tinyurl.com/SEgiftdrive. For more information, contact avery_hill@solancosd.org.