Amanda Edwards, of Sams Valley, picks up a bag of presents from The Salvation Army holiday headquarters at the former T.J. Maxx store on Biddle Road in Medford Thursday. 

The Salvation Army’s holiday headquarters on Biddle Road looked like a scene straight out of the North Pole Thursday morning.

Volunteers were bustling around like busy elves inside the former T.J. Maxx location at the Bear Creek Plaza in Medford. Inside were oversized, toy-filled red bags in long, tidy rows awaiting an even longer line of community members making their way through the front door.

It’s the social service organization’s final hurrah each year. The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree distribution process geared up last week with the sorting and organizing of toy orders for some 1,500 Southern Oregon children.

Distribution was set to run Thursday and Friday.

This particular outreach program run by the 158-year-old social service organization includes dozens of “Angel Trees” around the region. There also are familiar bell-ringers poised outside local stores, with proceeds from the bell-ringing going to fund a host of programs.

Sharre Whitson, regional development director for The Salvation Army, said this year’s bounty was scheduled to be shared with more than 500 families who would otherwise have gone without Christmas gifts this year.

To participate in the Angel Tree Program, local businesses and stores display holiday trees covered with paper tags, each denoting a child’s age and wished-for items. Community members buy the items and return them to the tree location for eventual distribution. Business owners and employees of tree locations often buy items on tags left lingering at the end of the season — ensuring no wish goes ungranted.

Applications for the Angel Tree Program are received Oct. 1 through Nov. 12, allowing The Salvation Army time to prepare the tags for the trees.

As of Thursday morning, the wishes had been made, gifts had been purchased and sorted and brought to the former T.J. Maxx, and volunteers were on hand assisting families picking up their gifts.

Local residents in need without children were treated to a gift card for a holiday meal, and seniors at a number of local facilities we treated to warm lap blankets.

Major Jonnette Mulch, corps officer for The Salvation Army, said the community’s generosity was always a bright spot during her own holiday season. Mulch coordinates Jackson County’s Angel Tree Program and said the tales of struggle and heartbreak trickle in as steadily as the bikes, stuffed animals, games and craft kits that are donated.

A family of four grieving the loss of a father who died in a tragic car accident this year.

A family who lost their home in the Almeda Fire and then lost a job due to a horrific accident that left one of the parents blind.

A father who had been incarcerated for four years and is hopeful to provide some Christmas gifts for his family this year.

“One (person) I talked to the other day was a single mom with three kids. She told me, ‘I was so proud of myself, because I’ve really been working hard. I’ve paid my bills. I thought I could do this. I thought I wouldn’t need any help,'” Mulch said.

“We got another application that said the mother was fleeing from a (domestic violence) case. … She got her kids in the car and took just the necessities with them. Through our Angel Tree Program, we were able to provide every item each kid would want,” Mulch added.

In addition to the bell-ringing proceeds and the Angel Tree donations, Mulch said The Salvation Army finds ways to fill in the gaps of what is requested or wished-for versus what is donated.

“Last year, we were able to have some grant money to help with rental assistance and utilities for seniors. Just with everything increasing for the cost of living … it’s heartbreaking because we can only do so much. But it’s also heartwarming to know that we have a generous community — even though they might have to count pennies themselves — that still wants to support those in need,” Mulch said.

There is always an extra need with Christmas Day inching closer and closer, and Mulch said the agency will keep a close eye for common shortfalls, including donations for meals for childless families and seniors, as well as gift items or gift cards for teenage recipients, whose gift tags are often bypassed for those of younger children.

Sweet Rose Farms, Mulch noted, does an annual fundraiser to help purchase gifts “just for the teens.”

Only days from Santa’s pending arrival, Mulch said things always — somehow — seem to work out. A seemingly small pile of donations and a sometimes-daunting list of needs somehow balances by the final day of distribution.

“We get down to the final days, and we call it faith time. It will look like a lot of extra toys, but once we started putting all those things in bags, those toys disappear really quickly, and we start to wonder if we’ll have any extra,” Mulch said.

It’s Christmas magic, she surmised, with a hefty amount of community generosity thrown in.

Mulch said meeting volunteers or community members who purchase toys posted on the Angel Trees is a reminder of the importance of embracing those in need. She’s got countless stories of volunteers who were helped by The Salvation Army as children, or community members who pick a tag from a tree each year as a matter of family tradition.

One volunteer, an 84-year-old man, donates his time each holiday season because of his own childhood memories.

“His dad left, and his mom was in an institution, so he was in an orphanage as a child. He remembers that the only people who gave them gifts for many years was The Salvation Army. The gift that The Salvation Army gave back then was just one of those mesh stockings with an orange and little candies inside,” Mulch said.

“It wasn’t a big gift or a toy, but he said it meant the world to him. … He helps us every year, and he tells me, ‘I’m going to do this for as long as I live,'” she added.

Donations toward last-minute gift items, or for community meals or other programs, can be made online at jacksoncounty.salvationarmy.org/medford/thrift-store or by calling 541-773-6965.