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Families in Need

Holiday Giving Tree — Neighbors helping neighbors in Altoona, Iowa.

How the Holiday Giving Tree works

This December, local families can be nominated by people who know them — a neighbor, a teacher, a friend. Each family's needs become paper tags on a Christmas tree at a host location (to be announced). You take a tag, buy the gift, and bring it back to the same tree. Our volunteers deliver everything before Christmas.

Tags show only a first name or a family code — never a last name, an address, or contact details. Families stay private. The giving stays local.

2026 season dates

  • Trees go upFriday, November 27 – Monday, November 30
  • Last day to take a tagSunday, December 13
  • Gifts back to the tree byFriday, December 18
  • Delivered to familiesDecember 20–22, before Christmas

Five ways to help

1. Nominate a familyOpening soon, once our first tree location is confirmed. 2. Host a treeBusinesses, churches, libraries, and schools. 3. Take a tagTree locations will be announced here on November 27. 4. VolunteerSet up trees, sort gifts, or help deliver before Christmas. 5. Sponsor a familyYour household shops one family's wish list.
Door 1

Nominate a family

We're starting small this year. Family nominations will open once our first tree location is confirmed, so we never make a promise we can't keep. This year we can help up to 5 families. Want to help in the meantime? Offer a tree location or volunteer.
Door 2

Host a tree

Businesses, churches, libraries, and schools: hosting is easy. We supply the tree signage, the tags, and the collection box, and we pick up the gifts. You supply a corner and a little foot traffic.

Thank you for offering to host a tree. The organizers will contact you soon.

* Required

For example: your hours, or dates the tree can't be up.

Door 3

Take a tag

Tree locations will be announced here on November 27. Every tag is one real need from one local family.

A note about food

Food tags ask for grocery gift cards or shelf-stable items only, so nothing perishable ever sits in a collection box — and a family can buy the holiday meal they actually want.

Door 4

Volunteer

The Holiday Giving Tree runs on neighbors. Give a few hours in late November or December: set up a tree, keep tags stocked, collect and sort gifts, or help deliver to families before Christmas.

Volunteers must be 18 or older. Volunteers who sort or deliver gifts will see family details, so they'll be asked to sign a short privacy agreement first.

Thank you for volunteering. The organizers will be in touch with times and details.

* Required

How would you like to help? (check all that apply)

For example: weekday evenings, Saturday mornings, December 20 only.

Questions

Are gifts tax-deductible?
No. Families in Need is a program of Iowa Cannabis Action Network, Inc., a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, and gifts to it aren't tax-deductible. What they are is local, direct, and in a neighbor's hands before Christmas.
Do I wrap the gift?
Please don't — return it unwrapped, with the tag attached, so we can match it to the right family.
What if I can't find the exact item?
A close match is fine, and a gift card is always fine.

Families in Need is a community-service program of Iowa Cannabis Action Network, Inc., a 501(c)(4) nonprofit · Altoona, Iowa · Gifts are not tax-deductible.