Salvation Army Angel Tree makes Christmas

Salvation Army lately been getting soul? As in: rhythm and soul. I was walking past Saks this very holiday shopping season when I passed a female volunteer ringing her traditional bell—as synonymous with the holidays in the city as sidewalk Santas and the smell of roasting chestnuts—even while boogying to the beat of her boombox. I can't remember the tune, but it certainly wasn't "Silent Night."


I crossed the street and headed west on 49th Street toward Rockefeller Center, where I encountered Alfredo Ortiz, another Salvation Army representative. He was doing the Funky Chicken.


"One is called the two-step," Mr. Ortiz explained, as he transitioned to another move. "I don't know the name of this one," he added, shifting to a third.


I didn't either, but I seemed to recall performing it myself somewhere around the eighth grade. Mr. Ortiz remembered: "The Monkey. The '50s and '60s moves. The other day I was doing the Hustle."


My recollection is that the typical Salvation Army bell ringer used to be a middle-age matron with a kindly smile who looked like she'd been airlifted here from the Midwest, and whose sell was anything but high-octane. Apparently, some still hew to that time-honored strategy. But Mr. Ortiz, a Bronx resident who said he lost his job at a door factory in August and gets paid nothing for his efforts, told me that the "Dance Fever" fund-raising strategy is the hallmark of the Salvation Army's Bronx Tremont Corps.


Gerardo Balmori, a captain with the Bronx Corps, who was attracting a crowd of his own across Rockefeller Plaza on 50th Street, confirmed Mr. Ortiz's information. "We used to tell people how bad is the situation," explained Captain Balmori who, together with Captain Geovani Coello, was performing a jig to "Feliz Navidad" that would certainly have taken them into the final round of "America's Got Talent." "But we think joy is much better. It's a more positive output."


The “angels” behind providing gifts for the children are area companies and corporations, including U.S. Steel, Methodist Hospitals, Direct Buy, Walmart, NIPSCO, First Presbyterian Church, Mike Anderson Chevrolet, Pinnacle Hospital, The Super Bowl, The Village Shopping Center, St. Mary Catholic Community School, Lake County Clerk’s Office, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Social Security Administration, Gary South Shore Railcats.


Kelly Bargiel of Gary said this was her first time being a recipient of the Angel Tree Program and the gifts will be for two of her three children.


“I worked at Broadway Cafe restaurant until Halloween of last year when it closed. I am going to school and looking for a job and my husband does seasonal work so he is unemployed right now. This helps a lot to have presents for our 4-year-old and 9-year-old, I have to find gifts for our 15-year-old now,” she said.


Lonay Cunningham of Gary received a huge load of gifts for her 3-year-old twins, a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter. “I’ve been out of work for three months as a home health aide/certified nurse assistant, so this helps me out a great deal,” she said.


Sakieya Dixon of Gary said this was her second year as an Angel Tree recipient. She became emotional when one specific gift for one of her children was brought out by a volunteer.


“I have four children but only three qualified for the program. This year the program is truly a blessing because of finances and not being able to work. I am going to school and I hope things get better. But without the Angel Program and the Salvation Army I don’t know what we could have done for Christmas,” she said.


Irizarry said the Angel Tree program is more than 40 years old and she’s been with the program for 38 years.


“The best thing about this program is sometimes recipients return here and become Angel Tree providers. We had one woman who was helped years ago and she and her daughters bought gifts for 12 families. That says a lot,” Irizarry said.