EVANSTON — Five hundred and twenty-four paper angels with wish lists printed on them graced Christmas trees in Walmart and the Maverik on County Road during the holiday season for shoppers to pick from.

Thanks to those shoppers who donated gifts and to the more than 60 volunteers that make up the Angels Among Us organization along with all the community volunteers, 197 families and 64 senior citizens (524 individuals) will have a merry Christmas.

For a full week starting on Monday, Dec. 16, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the volunteers met in the basement of the Uinta County Complex to sort and wrap gifts. Local businesses paid their employees to spend a day wrapping gifts.

Those participants included Union Cellular, Dr. David Russell of Vision Source, Public Health, Disability:IN and a group of 40 homeschool moms and students came to wrap gifts during the week. The gifts were labeled and put into large plastic bags to await pick-up on Friday, Dec. 20, by the 20 local organizations that provided the names of the recipients.

Each day the workers were treated to a free lunch provided on different days by: Ichiban, Don Pedro’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, Jimmy John’s and Smith’s Food & Drug.

“Each person will receive a minimum of three packages,” Angels Among Us chair Devona Chase said. “We couldn’t do this without all the wonderful support and help from the community. Because of them we finished with all of the gift wrapping ahead of schedule.”