With the holiday season in full swing, a number of local charities and businesses are sponsoring drives to help Utah's needy. They include:
More than 60 Utah and Idaho elementary schools will take part in Zions Bank's annual "Lights On" holiday celebration, an event in which children decorate Christmas trees inside bank lobbies. In return, Zions Bank makes monetary contributions to each participating school.
The bank provides lighted trees and students contribute ornaments they make themselves. As trees are set up, students, teachers and bank employees will join to sing holiday songs at each branch.
Zions Bank has sponsored the celebration for more than 30 years. A number of branches have also invited homeless children and students from low-income neighborhoods to participate.
Physicians from Salt Lake Regional Medical Center donated $5,000 to the Cathedral of the Madeleine's Good Samaritan Program. Approximately 225 hospital workers donated money usually reserved for their own Christmas gifts.
The Good Samaritan Program provides meals to the poor and needy, while also assisting with gas money, medicines and transportation.
The ZCMI Center Mall's Sanctuary Day Spa Salon made the Huntsman Cancer Institute the beneficiary of its inaugural Holiday Wellness Event Dec. 2. The salon offered haircuts, manicures, facials and massage for bargain rates, between $10 to $20 each. Proceeds went to the institute.
Nicholas & Company, a Salt Lake-based food distributor, threw a Christmas party for low-income children enrolled in the Head Start program. The party featured ornament and cookie decorating, caroling and photos with Santa and the Utah Jazz Bear. Former Jazz player Mark Eaton joined company employees in volunteering their time.
The Utah Food Bank has already benefitted from several food drives this holiday season, and more are on the way. People attending a recent Clumsy Lovers concert at the Zephyr Club received a free copy of the band's Christmas CD with any food or cash donation to the food bank.
Students at Salt Lake's Rosslyn Heights Elementary School collected 2,556 cans of food.
Monday will be "5 Percent Day" at both Wild Oats Natural Marketplace locations in Salt Lake. The stores will donate 5 percent of each store's total pre-tax sales to the food bank. Wild Oats stores are at 645 E. 400 South and at 1131 E. Wilmington Ave.
From now until Dec. 20, Roofers Supply will offer hooded sweatshirts for each bag of donated food. Donations can be dropped off at the Salt Lake (3359 S. 500 West), Ogden (120 W. 21st St.) or Lindon (125 S. 1550 West) locations. For more information call 801-266-1311.
A culinary competition at Snowbird Saturday benefitted Utahns Against Hunger. The second annual WinterFeast Iron Chef competition showcased the talents of two local and two national guest chefs as they raced to create a gourmet meal from a bag of mystery ingredients.
The weekend-long WinterFeast also features gourmet dinners and seminars presented by guest chefs and industry experts. All admission fees will be donated to Utahns Against Hunger.
The West Valley Wal Mart Supercenter donated a portion of Saturday's sales revenues to aid the city's victims of violent crime, part of the retailer's nationwide holiday charity event.
Money donated by the West Valley store will go to the city's Victim Services division, where it will aid residents dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault and other types of violent crime.
The Utah AIDS Foundation is sponsoring its annual "Season's Givings" program to provide Utahns living with HIV/AIDS and their families with holiday meals and gifts. Besides monetary donations, the foundation is asking people to give holiday meal baskets, clothing and bedding or personal care items like shampoo and toothpaste. For information call 801-487-2323P>
On Monday, the Utah chapter of the American Heart Association, in partnership with Salt Lake City Corp., will light the Remembrance Tree to honor Utahns who have died from cardiovascular disease. The holiday tree is decorated with nearly 4,000 red and white lights, representing the number of Utah lives claimed by the disease every year.
Red and gold hearts will also be placed around the tree to remember loved ones, and can be personalized for $10 and $25.
The lighting will take place at the northeast corner of Pioneer Park at 300 W. 300 South at 6 p.m. Those wishing to memorialize a loved one with a contribution can call the association at 801-484-3838.
The Utah State Hospital in Provo is seeking volunteers to help Utah's mentally ill as part of the Forgotten Patient Christmas Project. People are being asked to provide a Christmas to the hospital's patients, many of whom face a lonely holiday season away from their homes and families.
Donors can take a patient name and provide Christmas gifts for that one person. Or they can send a cash donation and hospital volunteers will do the shopping, or donate items that can be given to anyone in need, like socks, underwear or deodorant.
For information, call Shawna Peterson at 801-344-4254.
Tracy Aviary is holding a charity drive of a different sort soon after Christmas. On Dec. 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the aviary is asking people to donate their Christmas trees as additional roosts for its bird enclosures. In return, families bringing in their used trees will receive free admission for the day.
For the safety of the birds, all donated trees must be free of ornaments, tinsel and any artificial snow or sprayed scents. The Tracy Aviary is located in the southwest corner of Liberty Park at 589 E. 1300 South.