More Salvation Army bell-ringers are needed for this year's Chrismas giving season. With the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, neighbors who wish to help their neighbors have plenty of opportunities in Wilkes County this year.

Children are always first in the heart at Christmas time, and local annual programs are providing gifts for hundreds of children - here and around the country - who otherwise might be forgotten.

Baptist churches all over the county have been collecting shoe boxes recently for Samaritan's Purse program "Operation Christmas Child," which will deliver gifts to needy children all over the U.S. and the world, along with a Christian message. The First Baptist Church in Washington is the local collection point. More than 650 gift shoe boxes were collected last year from the county's Baptist congregations.

For years, the Washington's police officers have helped Santa with "Gifts for Children," the department's annual campaign, taking requests and buying gifts for some 250 children in the Washington- Wilkes area. WPD Assistant Chief Theodosia Glenn said that officers and other volunteers will spend the coming weeks organizing the toys to be distributed and assembling bikes for kids who asked for them.

The highlight of the year is the annual distribution at the police department, handled by Santa himself just before Christmas.

The community Angel Tree program, run by the Washington First United Methodist Church, is an outreach to needy children all over the county, with support and participation from many individuals, civic groups, and other churches, said Laura Toburen. "The children that Angel Tree reaches are identified through the schools and other sources as those children who, for various reasons, might not be remembered at Christmas," she said.

To help a needy Wilkes County child have a better Christmas, she said, stop by the First Methodist Church, select an angel or angel family, and register in the signup book. Volunteers will deliver the gifts to the recipients.

Wilkes County seniors won't be forgotten at Christmas, either. The annual "Operation Love and Care in a Shoe Box" brings useful and comforting gifts to neighbors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, said organizer Margie Burke. "Last year was such a wonderful success, so we'd like to expand this year and bring gifts to our neighbors in facilities like Washington Manor, Wilkes Health Care Center, Harper's Personal Care Center, and others who may be shut-ins in their homes."

Several groups have taken up the Operation Love and Care challenge, already starting to fill shoe boxes with a variety of gifts and necessities for seniors.

Patients in Georgia's mental institutions are also remembered at Christmas time. For 49 years, the Mayors Motorcade has brought the joy of the holiday season from Georgia cities to patients at Georgia's seven regional mental health and retardation hospitals. The program relies on citizen participation in each city to donate gifts for the patients. According to the hospital staff, many of the patients at these hospitals have lived there most of their lives and have little, if any, contact with friends and family.

Donated items from the City of Washington will be delivered to East Central Regional Hospital in Augusta on December 12. Civic organizations, businesses, churches, schools, scout troops, and individual citizens are encouraged to. For more information on how groups can participate, call Mayor Willie E. Burns at 706-678-3277.

And finally, the Salvation Army needs bell-ringers to help with this year's expanded bell-ringing schedule. "Our first need is for additional bell-ringing volunteers," organizer Dot Harris said. The full 19-day schedule as planned requires volunteers for 127 one-hour shifts, which is up from 113 last year, she said. Volunteer ringers are being recruited through churches, schools, civic organizations, governmental agencies, and elsewhere, but volunteers can also call Dot Harris at 706-678-2818.