Demand for holiday assistance significantly up from last year

JEFFERSON CITY -- Kelley Moore has been through a lot.

"I had a stroke, I was in a hospital for three-and-a-half weeks," said Moore. "Lost my job, lost all my income...got behind on my rent, got behind of everything. And I was evicted and had no place to go."

Now on disability, Moore, 40, says it's a struggle to put food on the table let alone pay rent.

Moore lives in Jefferson City with her 12-year-old daughter Jasmine. They were living in a shelter but are now getting help with housing through a government program and the help of the Salvation Army.

While things are tough year-round, Moore says it's especially hard and stressful during the holidays.

"I can't really afford to get [Jasmine] anything and...I don't think a child needs to wake up to nothing," said Moore. "She's never really had a real Christmas."

The Moore's aren't alone. A growing number of mid-Missouri kids could go without any gifts at all this Christmas.

"We're looking at around 700 children in need of gifts in our community this year that we will be helping," said Capt. Terry Selvage with the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army is hoping to help ease the burden. They have again partnered with Walmart to put up "Angel Trees." The mini-Christmas trees, which have little toy soldier tags on them, contain the holiday wish lists of local needy kids, like Jasmine.

Anyone who wants to buy a Christmas gift for a kid who otherwise wouldn't get one can grab a tag off the tree until Dec. 15. Each one's coded with a number that corresponds to a particular child.  

This year, with a shaky economy, the number of families needing help for the holidays has risen dramatically over previous years.

"Hopefully next Christmas I can be the one donating, I can be the one helping people on that Angel Tree," said Moore. "I could be the one doing for others instead of having to rely so much on everyone else right now."