The holiday season will be a bit merrier for 140 kids thanks to the efforts of the Eureka Springs community and the dedication of a group of high school students.

The longtime annual Angel Tree project, organized by Eureka Springs High School counselor Rachal Hyatt, has had one of its strongest responses this year.

Angels, which listed Christmas items requested by the families of Eureka Springs students, were on display at Arvest Bank, CS Bank, Equity Bank and at Harts Family Center. They didn’t last long, however, as members of the community quickly gobbled up the angels for the kids they chose to buy gifts for this season.

“Typically, we have about 100, 110 students, but we have 140 [kids] this year,” Hyatt said. “Since I’ve been doing this, we’ve never had a student go unserved and our community is just really great about this project.”

Hyatt explained that the families of students in the school district who are eligible for free lunches have the opportunity to take part in the Angel Tree project. Younger siblings who aren’t in school yet are also eligible, she said.

“[The families] can decide if they want to complete the form and return it to us,” Hyatt said. “They let us know the ages, things they’re interested in, clothing sizes and what they like.”

After the gifts are purchased, they are taken to the high school.

“They bring everything here for the high school unwrapped,” Hyatt said. “And then I just I check everything, knowing the names, and I check it and make sure it’s here.

“And then I send [the gifts] down the hallway and the kids wrap them. They don’t have any information for a student, but they wrap everything … and then I call family and let them know that their items are ready.”

The wrapping process, done by members of the ESHS National Honor Society, is a project upon itself and one that the students look forward to annually.

“The students take the time to get them all wrapped, make sure they’re wrapped well, and make sure they get into the right hands,” said Kevin Campbell, the school’s NHS sponsor. “The students look forward to it every year starting around October. They always ask me when we’re going to get started wrapping.”

One of those students is senior Meredith Loudermilk, who is in her second year involved in the wrapping project.

“It’s a really fun project,” Loudermilk said. “We all kind of split off into little groups and we get to hang out with each other, talk while we’re doing it, and it’s just kind of a fun and enlightening experience because you’re also doing something that is nice for other people and other kids as well.

“It makes me feel just really happy that we’re all willing to work together and help other people. It just kind of brings faith into humanity.”

Campbell said that some of the students currently involved in the wrapping project have a little extra motivation because they were once recipients of Angel Tree gifts.

“I’ve had a lot of kids that say that they actually remember receiving these gifts for themselves when they were younger,” Campbell said. “So, they really appreciate seeing it and being able to give back the wrapped presents like they received when they were kids.

“That’s the spirit of Christmas.” In fact, Hyatt said, some of the students currently involved in the present-wrapping project might also be receiving Angel Tree gifts this year, making the project extra rewarding.

“Our high schoolers know that they are wrapping gifts for each other,” Hyatt said. “They don’t know who it’s for, but they know that they are taking care of a community of teenagers. And, you know, they’re building that culture from a young age and can carry that into adulthood.

“There are some wrapping now that they don’t even know that they’re on that Angel Tree … it just kind of comes full circle.

“It just a meaningful project and [the students] know they’re taking care of each other.”

Meanwhile, it’s just another occasion when the residents of Eureka Springs have shown their dedication to helping others, Hyatt said.

“There’s no students that will go without anything, whether it’s clothing in the middle of the year, athletic equipment, or like this at Christmas,” Hyatt said. “It’s just so easy to get things done and get our students taken care of.”

Hyatt said one example of that is that she recently got word of a new family who moved into the area who qualified for Angel Tree gifts after they had all been taken from the area businesses.

“We’re so lucky to live where we live because it’s so easy to put things out there in the community or use social media,” she said. “I had a family move in that had two kids and I was able to digitally make two angels and put it on my personal social media and say, ‘hey, I have these two available.’ Within 30 minutes it’s taken.

“We’re lucky to live somewhere where people are so giving and take care of each other, and they don’t even know who they’re taking care of, and they don’t care. We are just a community that does do that.”