Our History
1992
The Mount Horeb Area Giving Tree was started in 1992. The idea was to replicate the Giving Trees in the Madison Malls. Community members in need would apply through the Food Pantry or directly through the Giving Tree Coordinators. Applications were also available at the State Bank of Mount Horeb or the United Methodist Church. Gifts were for “the needy or the lonely.” The giving trees were located in the State Bank of Mount Horeb downtown and Kalscheur’s Fine Foods. Community members would take tags off the trees and bring back wrapped gifts to the bank, or donate money.
The first year, two Giving Tree Coordinators delivered all the gifts to recipients’ homes – about 30-40 families – in a blizzard. They subsequently decided it would be better to have a distribution point so people could pick up their own gifts. Late 1990s
Church groups, 4-H Clubs, Brownies and Girl Scouts, and classrooms of students joined in annually to support the MH Giving Tree. At this time, all the gifts were wrapped at distribution. By the time Donna left the Giving Tree, it was a well-run organization. In 1997 the Giving Tree gave gifts to 80 people. By 1999, this increased to 131 people.
2000s
In 2000, Giving Tree sites included the two Amcore Bank sites, Kalscheur’s, Fine Foods, Prairie Bookstore, and State Bank of Cross Plains. Giving Tree donation canisters for cash donations were also used at the sites.
In 2002, the Giving Tree provided 300 gifts and bought Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce gift certificates for senior citizens. In 2004, the Mount Horeb Intermediate Center began coordinating donations for clothing, books, and hygiene items. In 2008, the Giving Tree started working directly with MARC, computerized the process, and expanded the number of area Giving Tree sites to all the banks, the Welcome Center, and the COOP. When possible, the organization started to focus on buying in the community. 2010s
In 2014, the Giving Tree served 137 children, 19 seniors, and 55 people with disabilities for a total of 211 recipients and over 400 gifts.
In 2018, the Giving Tree served 280 children, seniors, and people with disabilities in the Mount Horeb area. |