Tree of Sharing
When you support the Tree of Sharing this year, you are supporting 44 local social service and other nonprofit agencies and organizations, and more than 6,300 of our community's most vulnerable members.
All of these agencies have tags on the Tree in 2024.
List Title
Aging & Long Term Care of E WA
Akin – formerly Children’s Home Society
AscendA
Catholic Charities Buder Haven
Catholic Charities Father Bach Haven
Catholic Charities Housing Social Services
Cheney PS ECEAP
Clare View Seniors
Communities in Schools
Community Minded ECEAP
Cooper Elementary
Deer Park Early Learning Center
East Valley ECEAP
Eastern State Hospital
Excelsior Wellness
Frontier Behavioral Health
Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations
Healthcare for Homeless Veterans
Liberty Park Early Development Center
Lutheran Community Services NW
Meals on Wheels
Mid-City Concerns Senior Center
MLK Jr Outreach Center
New ESD 101 ECEAP
NHCC - Isabella House
NHCC - Sun Ray Courts
Northeast Community Center
Partners INW – formerly Spokane Valley Partners
Partners with Families & Children
PCAP Assistance Program
Pioneer Center East
Riverside School District ECEAP
Rogers Design Instruction Program
Service Alternatives Inc.
Spokane Public Schools Behavioral Health Agency
Spokane Regional Health District
Spokane Virtual Learning
Take Up the Cause
West Valley ECEAP
YFA Connections
YWCA Alternatives to Domestic Violence
YMCA INW ECEAP
YWCA of Spokane
Christmas Day at Sun Ray Court is equally as heartbreaking as it is hope inspiring. Sun Ray is a men’s inpatient substance abuse treatment program. At any given time, 30-45 men aged 18-99 voluntarily admit for drug and alcohol treatment to get their lives back on track.
Oftentimes these men have spent years or even decades lost to drugs and homelessness, and more than a few come from generations of addiction, abuse, and neglect.
For far too many of these men, this is the first time they have ever been sober on Christmas. For some, this is the first Christmas ever spent away from their families, while others have no one to call family. Knowing this, the staff come together every year to provide a meaningful present for every patient, with donations from the Tree of Sharing as the centerpiece.
Every year, as the men are opening their presents on Christmas morning, at least one breaks down crying. Many a man, young and old alike, has explained through his tears that this was the first time in his life he had ever received a Christmas present.
Every year, our Tree of Sharing tags ask for the same basic items: a button up dress shirt and tie, socks, and/or a book or token focused on sobriety. Every year, every single man who receives a dress shirt and tie immediately goes to his room to change, returning to the communal space in his nicest pants and his new shirt. The house transforms from a ragtag group in sweats and jeans into a polished, professional looking community.
Inevitably, some of the younger patients never learned to tie a tie, and the older gentlemen quietly pull them aside to teach them. Every one of these men walks with their head held just a little higher.
Yet these shirts and ties come with an even greater value. Many of these men need to seek employment when they graduate. For those who came to treatment with whatever meager possessions they could keep from being stolen on the street, that shirt and tie mean he has something professional to wear to a job interview. Dozens of patients have called or returned to the facility over the years to share success stories, and more than one has reported how those small pieces of fabric played a pivotal role in his early sobriety.