The Angel Behind the Angel Tree

By Nathan Koop

A funeral home is a place that deals in grief and loss. But from October through December, it also becomes a place of giving. For more than two decades, that work has been carried by Cindy Hitchcock, owner and operator of Freitas Rupracht Funeral Home.

Each fall, the Angel Tree goes up. The ornaments are simple. Cut from white paper plates and handwritten in marker. Each one lists a child. An age. Boy or girl. Sizes for pants, shirts, shoes. A few notes at the bottom. Hot Wheels. A Batmobile. A jewelry set. Small details, written plainly.

Cindy has been running the Angel Tree for 21 years. She starts around Halloween. Information is shared through Facebook and word of mouth. Families come in, pick up an application, fill it out, and bring it back. If they want to remain anonymous, there is a drop box on the building where applications can be returned quietly.

That privacy matters to her. Cindy was raised by a single mother. Money was tight. Many of her Christmases were made possible by an Angel Tree. Gifts she did not ask questions about. Gifts that simply showed up. That experience is the driving force behind the work she does today.

People who take ornaments come in for their own reasons. Some know the importance of these donations from first hand experience. Some just want to give. And some see the tree on the way out of the store and decide this is the year that they are going to make a change in their community and help. They read the plate. They take one. They bring the gift back wrapped. No announcements. No recognition. The tree empties on its own.

This year, Cindy made sure the work reached further. At Raleys, the Angel Tree was placed directly in front of the checkout lines, where shoppers leaving could easily grab an ornament. At Southwest Critical Materials, a tree was placed in the line out room. Employees were encouraged to take as many ornaments as they wanted, and the company let staff know that anything left would be covered.

When we arrived to drop off presents, the entire funeral home was filled with gifts. Boxes stacked in rooms and hallways. Bicycles leaned against pews. Tables covered in toys and clothes. Cindy and a volunteer were wrapping presents, moving through it all with ease and joy. It was a sight that could bring tears to anyone’s eyes.

Every hallway tells the same story, stacked floor to wall with gifts, proof of a community showing up for children they may never meet.

People donate throughout the year. Toys and presents come in long before December. Extra gifts are kept on hand in case a child is missed, to make sure no one goes without. There is also an Angel Tree bank account where donations can be made year round to help fund the work.

The families are never named. The children are never pointed out. What matters is that, on Christmas morning, something is there that might not have been otherwise.

What looks like clutter is actually coordination, neighbors helping neighbors, each bag and box part of a shared promise that no one is forgotten.

The pews transformed into Santa’s workshop, where the spirit of Christmas fills every seat.

This has happened year after year. Not as an event. Not as a campaign. Just as work that needs doing.

Freitas Rupracht Funeral Home is located at 25 Hwy 208 in Yerington.

For anyone looking for a way to help this season, the work is still there.

A room set aside for extra gifts, kept on hand to make sure no child is missed.