Story written, published and © Copyright 2005 by The Westborough News on townonline.com.

Over the next few weeks, the newspaper will highlight the program by profiling some of the people who make it tick and sharing the stories of some of the people who benefit from the town's generosity.

While the churches have officially joined forces for the first time this year, St. Luke's will continue to coordinate most of the logistics behind the gift donations, which are meant to benefit people of all faiths.

"This program is open to all residents of Westborough regardless of their faith tradition," said Gagnon, adding that gifts are geared for newborns up to 18 years old.

"We decided to keep the process as it has been for 25 years. It runs seamlessly and we have room at this big Parish Center," Gagnon says of the Ruggles Street building behind St. Luke's.

For Gagnon and her volunteers, the 25-year-old holiday outreach effort starts every year in early October.

Letters were sent to all recipients who have used the giving tree in the past, as well as to school nurses, and various state and local agencies such as The Bridge, Westborough State Hospital and Westborough Youth & Family Services, informing them of the assistance available to Westborough residents.

Needy families respond by filling out an application form with their proof of residency and gift requests. Gagnon enters all the information into her computer and attaches a code number to each family for confidentiality reasons.

She then generates an anonymous gift tag specifying a child's request and affixes it to the Christmas tree in the back of the St. Luke's sanctuary. The three other churches involved do the same with their respective trees.

Even though many of the tags have already been picked from the trees, Gagnon said families can still sign up with the program through the first weekend in December.

Gagnon allows five reasonably-priced gift requests per child which translates into five individual tags on the tree. Church members may choose one tag or more. [continue]