As the holiday season approaches, it is important to remember that this year has hit many families hard, potentially putting something like a normal Christmas into limbo.

That is why this year, more than ever, Peter and Theresa Conti are encouraging Fountain Hills residents to pick a tag off a tree from their Christmas Angel Tree program.

Christmas Angel Trees is a nationwide Salvation Army program where participants pick a tag off a Christmas tree that has the Christmas present wish of a child in tough circumstances.

With the economic hardships brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of children participating in the Angel Tree program is expected to rise significantly.

“The Salvation Army is saying, here in Phoenix, that they are expecting a 30 to 50 percent increase in the main program,” Peter said. “They had something like 50,000 kids last year, so that is a lot.”

Here, in the Contis’ local Angel tree program, Peter expects around a 20 to 30 percent increase in the number of local children who participate.

While Peter agrees that there are bigger issues out there right now other than Christmas, he also believes that, for a child, it is one of the biggest issues.

“Christmas isn’t the most important thing and all that, but you tell a six-year-old that,” he said. “Especially one who is expecting Santa to bring them something. That is my approach to it all: No, its not the most important thing, this year especially, but continuity for the kids is important.”

The Contis are long-time residents of Fountain Hills and, before they ran the Christmas Angel Tree program, they participated in it.

“My wife and I have lived in town for 26 years and the Angels program had been in town for a significant portion of that run by the former principal of McDowell Mountain,” Conti said. “My wife and I don’t have any kids, so we would go every year to Washington Federal and take every tag from their tree. When the principal retired, though, nobody took over the program, so there was a year where there were no Angel trees.”

Dismayed to see the program vanish, Peter investigated what happened to it.

“Basically, what it boiled down to is that it is so much work that no one wanted to undertake it,” Conti said. “My wife and I were trying to think of some things we could do personally to give back. So, I actually went to the Salvation Army and asked them what it would take for me to run the program.”

Since taking over the program, the Contis have expanded beyond McDowell Mountain Elementary School while still keeping the program local.

“Previously, it was really just through McDowell Mountain. What we’ve done is take it to the Charter School, the middle school, the early learning center [at Fort McDowell] and preschools,” Conti said. “Our program is the only official, super-local program for the Salvation Army in the state.”

The Contis said they hope that, by keeping their program local to Fountain Hills children, more residents will want to get involved.

“I want Fountain Hills residents, our community members, to own it, personally, because these are local kids,” Peter said. “These are the kids you see at Target. These are the kids you see at the park and around town. So, I wanted there to be no doubt about who you are helping.”

Christmas trees will be going up at local businesses like Russo Salon, Sami Fine Jewelry and local banks from Nov. 18-23. Presents must be returned by Dec. 16.