NATCHEZ — The presents Santa will deliver to needy children in Natchez this Christmas Eve have been packed, but The Children’s Christmas Tree Fund still needs donations.

Christmas Tree Fund organizer Caroline McDonough said the fund has gotten the presents it will distribute but has not raised as much money as she would like to.

“We have just about all the bags packed, and (today) we are going to pack the candy, fruits and coloring books,” McDonough said. “Most of the work has been done, but we can always use donations.”

McDonough said she tries to spend between $25 and $35 on each child’s present bag, and packs approximately 350 bags.

The gifts are purchased on the Christmas Tree Fund’s credit card, and donations are used to pay off the balance. Very little money rolls over at the end of the year.

The fund was founded in the early 1900s by McDonough’s great-great-grandfather and the then-publisher of The Natchez Democrat, James Lambert, with the intent of providing gifts for the less fortunate children of Natchez.

At the time, the fund was known as the Poor Children’s Christmas Tree, and later merged with a similar program for poor black children. Since the 1920s, the fund has partnered with the Santa Claus Committee, a group of businessmen who fundraise for the effort and parade through town on Christmas Eve before handing out the presents to children at Braden School.

The Santa Claus Committee selects the Santa Claus who distributes the presents.

The children who receive the gifts are ages 1 to 10 and are selected by an application process through Catholic Charities.

“It is definitely helping others, helping those children who wouldn’t have a Christmas otherwise, is why I keep doing this,” McDonough said. “The smiles they get on their faces when they get their bags, that’s what it is.”

Donations to the Children’s Christmas Tree Fund may be sent to Christmas Tree Fund, P.O. Box 1082, Natchez, MS, 39121 or to The Natchez Democrat, P.O. Box 1447, Natchez, MS, 39121.